Jim Denomie facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jim Denomie
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Speaking at the Eiteljorg Museum in front of his painting A Beautiful Hero, Woody Keeble (2009)
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| Born | 1955 Hayward, Wisconsin, U.S.
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| Died | (aged 67) Shafer, Minnesota, U.S.
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| Nationality | Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe |
| Education | BFA University of Minnesota |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Metaphorical surrealism, history painting |
| Spouse(s) | Diane Wilson |
| Awards | Minneapolis City Pages Artist of the Year award (2007), Bush Artist Fellowship (2008), and Eiteljorg Native American Fine Art Fellowship (2009) |
Jim Denomie (1955 – March 1, 2022) was a talented American Ojibwe painter. He was famous for his bright and often funny paintings. His art explored both American history and the lives of Native Americans.
About Jim Denomie's Life
Growing Up and Moving Around
Jim Denomie was a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. He lived on a reservation until he was four years old. Then, his family moved to Chicago, Illinois. This move was part of a government program in the 1960s. This program encouraged Native American families to move from reservations to big cities. The idea was to help them find jobs and homes.
Moving to a new city was hard for Jim's family. His parents divorced because of the stress. When Jim was five, he moved to Minneapolis with his mother. He still visited his grandparents on the reservation during summers and winters.
Challenges as a Young Person
As a teenager, Jim found school difficult. He felt pressure to fit in and deal with racism. He often sought advice from family and friends. However, many of them were also struggling with similar issues. They faced challenges trying to blend into American culture.
Learning and Higher Education
Jim started attending the University of Minnesota to study health science. He joined an American Indian student group there. This group helped him connect with other Native students. He learned about Native art, culture, politics, and languages. These were subjects he had not learned in his public school.
Jim also became a teaching assistant in the American Indian studies department. He later changed his major. In 1995, he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In his art classes, he learned about different art styles. This helped him develop his own unique way of painting.
Family Life and Hobbies
Jim Denomie was a husband, father, and grandfather. He lived and worked in Shafer, Minnesota. Besides painting, he also enjoyed photography and creating art with mixed materials. He was also a big fan of golf.
Jim passed away from cancer at his home on March 1, 2022. He was 67 years old.
Jim Denomie's Artistic Journey
Jim Denomie was known for his powerful art. As artist Gail Tremblay once said, "Denomie's art addresses everyone with equal rigor and has important lessons for all viewers."
How Jim Created His Art
Jim usually started with a main idea or theme for his paintings. He would then make a first sketch, like a rough draft. He would keep working on it until it was ready for the final painting. His paintings were full of bright colors and thick textures. Sometimes, he would mix his paints right on the canvas.
For his large paintings, he always put down a first layer of paint. This helped him plan the overall layout. He compared his painting process to a "chess game". He had to make many choices about where to place things and how to layer colors.
When asked if a painting was ever truly finished, Jim said: "A painting is done when the artist dies. I used to think a painting was done when I had taken it as far as I could. Now, if I still have the painting and I'm not happy with it, I might work on it again. A painting is like a movie, always changing. We hit pause when it looks good to us and then we sign it. But we might come back to it later with new ideas and say, 'this painting needs more work.'"
Jim liked to paint in the evenings. He would listen to music by artists like Bob Dylan and Creedence Clearwater Revival. He said his art teachers at the University of Minnesota greatly influenced him. His family, dreams, memories, and life experiences also inspired his work.
His Unique Painting Style
Jim Denomie called his storytelling painting style "metaphorical surrealism." This means his paintings often used symbols and dream-like images. His art frequently explored historical and current events in American and Native American history. He also looked at pop culture, art history, and the relationship between Anglo-Americans and Native Americans.
For example, his painting Attack on Fort Snelling Bar and Grill (2007) humorously looks at 19th-century American events and modern culture.
In Edward Curtis, Paparazzi: Skinny Dip, Jim made fun of a famous painting called Le déjeuner sur l'herbe. In Jim's version, four Native Americans are relaxing after skinny dipping. The photographer Edward Curtis is shown in the corner, ready to take pictures.
Peking Duck (2008) playfully makes fun of the Bering Strait theory. This theory suggests how the first people came to the Americas. In the painting, a Native American rides in a rickshaw, holding Chinese takeout. Above him, Jim created his own version of The Creation of Adam. It shows White Buffalo Calf Woman giving a drum to the Lakota people.
Portraits: Rugged Indians
In 2005, Jim decided to paint a portrait every day for a year. He wanted to make painting a bigger part of his life. He had been so busy that he felt like a stranger in his own studio. This project led to hundreds of portraits. Most were small (5x7 or 6x8 inches) and showed Native Americans. Jim called them "Rugged Indians."
These portraits usually showed the person's head and shoulders, facing forward. Each one took about 15 to 30 minutes to finish. This project helped Jim get back into the flow of creating art. After succeeding, he no longer needed to paint a portrait every day.
His Afflicted Warriors series shows male Native American warriors. They often have long hair, a headband, and a single feather. The Wounded Knee series features portraits painted in blues, greens, and blacks. These skeletal figures represent the terrible events at Wounded Knee. Sometimes, his portraits were just general "Rugged Indians." Jim would sign, date, and sometimes name them after someone they reminded him of.
Wabooz: The Rabbit Trickster
Jim Denomie's studio was called Wabooz Studio. "Wabooz" is the Ojibwe word for rabbit. The rabbit often appeared in Jim's paintings. He felt a connection to the rabbit. In Ojibwe stories, the rabbit is also a trickster figure named Nanaboujou.
Wabooz became like an alter ego for Jim. It allowed him to appear in his own artwork. Wabooz even showed up in some of Jim's portraits. In the Magic Rabbit series, three paintings show an alert rabbit wearing a vest. It has intense, almost google-like eyes.
Minnesota-Inspired Art
Jim's paintings often featured Minnesota politics, news, and Native American issues. For example, Split Decision shows the close election recount between Al Franken and Norm Coleman. Paul Wellstone acts as the referee between the two politicians, who are dressed like boxers. Jim's usual characters are in the audience: Wabooz, a Native American on a horse, a coyote, a moose, and many bored people.
His landscape painting Casino Sunrise is Jim's own version of the Seal of Minnesota. Governor Tim Pawlenty is shown as "Pawl Bunyan" (a play on Paul Bunyan). He stands with his pants around his ankles behind Babe the Blue Ox. Former governor Jessie Ventura is shown wearing only a thong and a feather boa. He has a cigar, a fishing rod with a grenade, and a fist full of money. Jim's paintbrush didn't spare any Minnesota politician! Norm Coleman sits on a toilet, and Al Franken counts ballots behind him.
The painting also shows a Minneapolis police car. It relates to a real event where three Native American men were arrested. There wasn't enough room in the car, so one was put in the trunk. Jim said about this painting, "The Minnesota State seal needed to be updated. This is all history, all of it is history of Minnesota."
Major Exhibitions
- "Silver River" 2016 Wiesman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN
- "Jim Denomie, Paintings" 2015 Projek Traum, Atelier Glidden Wozniak, Friedrichschaffen, Germany
- "Jim Denomie, Dialogues" 2014 Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
- "It's New, It's Now" 2013 Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
- "The Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts Biennial" 2012, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette Universary, Salem, OR
- "Counting Coup" Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, NM
- Now and Then, 2010, Winona State University, Winona, MN
- Transcending Traditions: Contemporary American Indian Artwork, 2010, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ
- Art Quantum, 2009, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN
- Jim Denomie: Recent History, 2009, Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
- Common Ground: Paintings by Julie Buffalohead and Jim Denomie, 2008, Metro State University, St. Paul, MN
- Jim Denomie: Recent Works, 2008, Finlandia University, Hancock, MI
- New Skins: New Paintings by Andrea Carlson and Jim Denomie, 2007, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
- Reflections of Lewis & Clark, 2005, University of Montana, Missoula, MT
- Painting by Jim Denomie, 2004, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND
- 8th Native American Fine Arts Invitational, 2002, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
- Truth, 2002, St. John's University, Collegeville, MN
- Transitions, 2000, Duluth Art Institute, Duluth, MD
- Metaphor and Intuition, 1999, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Notable Awards
- McKnight Distinguished Artist Award, 2019
- Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Arts, 2009
- Bush Artist Fellowship, 2008
