Terrell James

Terrell James (born 1955) is an American artist who makes abstract paintings, prints and sculptures. She is best known for large scale work with paint on stretched fabric, and for parallel small scale explorations such as the Field Studies series, ongoing since 1997. She lives and works in Houston, Texas.

Terrell James
Born1955 (age 67–68)
Houston, Texas
NationalityAmerican
EducationInstituto Allende
Sewanee: The University of the South
Known forPainting, printmaking and sculpture

Early life and education

Terrell James was born in Houston, Texas in 1955.[1][2][3] A seventh generation Texan,[1][3] she graduated from Houston's Lamar High School in 1973.[4] In 1973, James studied painting and printmaking at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende (Guanajuato, Mexico).[3] During 1973–77 she attended The University of the South in Sewanee Tennessee, where she continued her studies in painting and printmaking.[3]

Art practice

Painting
Hidden Histories, 2013, 42x72

James' painting suggest ambiguous visions of nature, urban geometries and technical artifacts,[5][6] resisting easy determination.[7][8] Instead of obvious images and visual stability, the viewer finds a pictorial landscape composed of alternate potential readings.[5][7][6] Writing for the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Daniel Stern stated that "To gaze at a painting of Terrell James' is to enter into an experience in the making: painting in which the act of painting continues on as the eye wanders the finished surface. Each individual painting is completed by each individual encounter."[9]

Field Studies
Field Study FS-457, 2007, 20x16

James' numbered series Field Studies begin in 1997, are small works devoted to ongoing, open-ended visualization.[10] Curator Alison de Lima Greene has written: "Sometimes a drawn line darts across the field or serves as a scaffold, sometimes pale afterimages challenge the viewer's eye, and even the occasional collaged element is welcomed as well."[11] Field Studies are often made in parallel with much larger synchronous works, tracking their internal color relationships in a secondary form.[12]

Forrest Bess and archival research

From 1980 to 1985, James worked as a field collector and material archivist for the Archives of American Art,[13] at the Smithsonian Institution. While in this position, she was involved in the cataloging and exhibition of works by artist Forrest Bess.[14] This assignment included her research involving Bess' family and contacts in Bay City, Texas, her cataloging of correspondence related to the artist's exhibition with New York gallerist Betty Parsons,[15] and her organization of the 1986 exhibition of Forrest Bess' paintings in collaboration with Hiram Butler Gallery.[16] This show led to the involvement of other galleries, such as New York's Hirschl & Adler Modern.[17] Her research on Bess' life and work was seminal to the posthumous emergence of his worldwide following among collectors and institutions.[18][19] In addition to archival work, James was integrally involved in the production of films and books about Bess. James played the archetypal feminine figure of Forrest Bess in Jim Kanan's 1987 film of Bess, Fishmonger, and was a primary source for Chuck Smith's book Key to the Riddle.[20]

Exhibitions
Terrell James: A Place for Two Stones

James has exhibited her work at a number of museums and public spaces, including the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston,[21] the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Cameron Museum of Art[22] (Wilmington NC) and the Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo (Mexico D.F.).[23] the Art League Houston[3]

Collections

Recognition and commentary
  • Texas Artist of the Year (Art League Houston, 2016)[1][41][42]
  • 2014 Texas Art Hall of Fame (Houston Fine Art Fair)[43][44]
  • 2008 Texan-French Alliance for the Arts' TFAA Recognition Award[45]
  • Decorative Center Houston's 2013 Design Star Award[46]
  • 2010 Visual Arts Fellowship from the Edward Albee Foundation[31][47]

References
  1. Glentzer, Molly (October 28, 2016). "Poetic vision of Terrell James at Art League Houston". Houston Chronicle, Houston TX. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  2. Lisa Gray, "About Time," Houston Press, Houston TX, April 21, 2001
  3. "2016 Texas Artist of the Year". solo exhibition: Art League Houston. September 30, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  4. "Lamar High School Class of 1973". lamarhighschoolalumni.org.
  5. Buhmann, Stephanie (2016). Hover: Terrell James. Houston, TX: Art League Houston. pp. 3–7.
  6. Buhmann, Stephanie (November 2007). "Terrell James: Witnessing Places". ArtSlant. London, UK.
  7. Gee, PhD, Allen (Winter 2002). "Terrell James: Rouffignac & Field Studies". Art Lies. 37: 89.
  8. Littman, Robert; Pillsbury, Edmund P. (2001). Impression and Sensation: The Painting of Terrell James. Dallas, TX: Pillsbury Peters Fine Art. pp. 2–4. ASIN B00SNWO4EA.
  9. Greene, Alison DeLima (2000). Texas: 150 Works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Houston, TX: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. p. 144. ISBN 089090-095-7.
  10. Dela, Sasha (December 17, 2008). "Interview with Terrell James: 'Preoccupations'". Glasstire, Houston TX. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  11. Greene, Alison de Lima (2010). Terrell James: Field Studies. Houston, Texas. p. 4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. Petry, Michael (October 24, 2016). "The Abstraction of the Physical into the Poetic" (PDF). Remember the Poison Tree. London, UK: Cadogan Contemporary: 7–12.
  13. "Archives of American Art: Research and Reference Services". 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2017-08-27.
  14. "About Forrest Bess". forrestbess.org. Retrieved 2017-08-27.
  15. "View of Forrest Bess Exhibition at Betty Parsons Gallery". Archives of American Art. 1962.
  16. Butler, Hiram. "Forrest Bess, 2016". Hiram Butler Gallery. Retrieved 2017-08-27.
  17. Shapiro, Meyer (1988). Forrest Bess. Chicago Ill: Hirschl & Adler Modern. ISBN 0942051076.
  18. Glentzer, Molly (April 14, 2013). "An artist's artist gains a wider following: The Menil Collection exhibit exposes the full story behind the enigmatic work of Forrest Bess". Houston Chronicle, Houston TX.
  19. "Forrest Bess, Events". forrestbess.org. Retrieved 2017-08-27.
  20. Smith, Chuck; Thurman, Robert (Foreword) (June 11, 2013). Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle. powerHouse Books. ISBN 978-1-57687-675-6.
  21. "Seeing the Forest Through the Trees". Group exhibition: Perspectives Gallery, Contemporary Arts Museum/Houston. August 13, 1993. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  22. "Terrell James: Field Study". Solo exhibition: Cameron Museum of Art, Wilmington NC. May 6, 2011. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  23. "Centro Arte Contemporaneo".
  24. "Terrell James". whitney.org.
  25. "Collection Index: the Menil Collection".
  26. "The Watermill Collection".
  27. "Search". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
  28. "Search | The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston". www.mfah.org.
  29. "Field Study 9, 1998: Collection of the Dallas Museum of Art". collections.dma.org. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
  30. "University of St. Thomas | Catholic University Houston, Tx". www.stthom.edu.
  31. "The Edward F. Albee Foundation". The Edward F. Albee Foundation.
  32. "Cameron Art Museum | Wilmington, NC". cameronartmuseum.org.
  33. "Collection Index: Works of Terrell James in FIUWAC Collection, The Netherlands".
  34. "Centro Contemporaneo, Mexico D.F."
  35. "Portland Art Museum – Portland, Oregon". Portland Art Museum.
  36. "Terrell James – U.S. Department of State". art.state.gov. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  37. "University of the South in Sewanee TN".
  38. "San Antonio Museum of Art".
  39. "Print Closeup: Terrell James, Untitled IV and VII". January 26, 2016.
  40. James, Terrell (2018). "Field Study #725". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  41. Newton, Paula (May 6, 2016). "ALH Announces Texas Artist of the Year". Glasstire, Houston TX. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  42. "2016 Texas Artist of the Year Exhibition: HOVER by Terrell James". www.artleaguehouston.org. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  43. Staible, Heather (May 30, 2014). "Top artists named to Houston Fine Art Fair's first-ever Hall of Fame". houston.culturemap.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  44. Rhodes, Elizabeth (September 19, 2014). "VIPs beat the rush on opening night of Houston Fine Art Fair with International Flair". houston.culturemap.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  45. "TFAA Art Recognition Award and Auction". www.texanfrenchalliance.org. October 15, 2008. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  46. Hodge, Shelby (May 3, 2013). "Billionaire developer swoops in from NYC to present Decorative Center Stars of Design awards". houston.culturemap.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  47. "Albee Fellows: 2010". www.albeefoundation.org. Retrieved August 27, 2017.

Further reading
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