Terrell James facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Terrell James
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| Born | 1955 (age 69–70) Houston, Texas
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | Instituto Allende Sewanee: The University of the South |
| Known for | Painting, printmaking and sculpture |
Terrell James, born in 1955, is an American artist. She creates amazing abstract paintings, prints, and sculptures. She is famous for her large paintings on fabric. She also makes smaller art pieces, like her Field Studies series, which she has been working on since 1997. Terrell James lives and works in Houston, Texas.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Terrell James was born in Houston, Texas, in 1955. She grew up in Texas and finished Lamar High School in 1973. In the same year, she started studying painting and printmaking. She learned these skills at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. From 1973 to 1977, she continued her art studies at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
Art Practice
Painting
Terrell James' paintings show unclear pictures of nature, city shapes, and technical objects. They are not always easy to understand at first glance. Instead of clear images, you find a scene with many possible meanings. Daniel Stern, a writer for the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, said that looking at her paintings is like watching art being made. He felt that each painting is finished by the person who looks at it.
Field Studies
The Field Studies are a special series of small artworks by Terrell James. She started them in 1997. These pieces are like ongoing visual diaries. Curator Alison de Lima Greene explained that sometimes a line might dart across the picture. Other times, faint images challenge your eyes. Even small pieces of collage are sometimes added. Field Studies are often made at the same time as her much larger works. They help her explore color ideas in a smaller way.
Related Work
Helping with Art History
From 1980 to 1985, Terrell James worked for the Archives of American Art. This is part of the Smithsonian Institution. In this job, she helped collect and organize materials about artists. She worked on cataloging and showing the art of another artist named Forrest Bess.
Her work included researching Bess's family and friends in Texas. She also organized letters about his art shows with a gallery in New York. She helped put together an exhibition of Forrest Bess's paintings in 1986. This show helped other galleries become interested in his work. Her research was very important in making Forrest Bess's art known around the world after he passed away. Besides her research, James also helped create films and books about Bess.
Exhibitions
Terrell James has had many solo art shows. Her art has been displayed in galleries in the United States, like Hiram Butler Gallery in Houston and Froelick Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Her work has also been shown at The Cameron Museum of Art in Wilmington, North Carolina. Internationally, her art has been seen at Cadogan Contemporary in London, UK, and Fundacion Centro Cultural in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Collections
Terrell James's art is part of many important collections. This means her work is owned and displayed by museums and foundations. Some of these places include:
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Menil Collection, Houston
- Watermill Collection (Robert Wilson Foundation, Water Mill, N.Y.)
- Casa Lamm/Televisa Cultural Foundation and Museum (Mexico, D.F.)
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Museum of Fine Arts Houston
- Dallas Museum of Art
- University of St. Thomas, Houston
- Albee Foundation, New York
- The Cameron Museum of Art (Wilmington, N.C.)
- Free International University World Art Collection, the Netherlands
- Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo Mexico D.F.
- Portland Art Museum, Oregon
- the Rice University Collection, Houston
- United States Department of State
- Museum of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee
- San Antonio Museum of Art
- Texas Tech University
- National Gallery of Art
