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Peace of the Wild

3/3/2021

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harris/harvy Gallery

HART JAMES

Peace of the Wild
April 1 - May 1, 2021

Harris Harvey Gallery is pleased to present “Peace of the Wild,’ an exhibition of new oil paintings by Olympia-based artist Hart James. James’ work imbues the spirit and energy of nature through her bold depictions--defining a sense of place. She captures reflections seen on still waters, dramatic landforms, cascading waterfalls amongst rugged rocks, and draping limbs in dark lush forests. Upon spending much of her creative life curiously wandering and appreciating the outdoors the artist reflects, “We are nature, and in nature, is our peace. What we most need to do is to sing with the Earth on the inside.”
A dynamic use of paint, applied with immediacy and without fuss, charges James' paintings with a balance of chaotic energy and orderly qualities mimicking that of the natural world. Working primarily with palette knife and rag allows the artist to remain less bound to precision and work more organically. This process affords a strong connection between the artist and the wellspring of creativity and intuition.  James shares, “The importance of the messy drip, the misplaced color, the accident in my work is paramount. For my purposes, precision, and exactitude of process kills the painting. The energy is lost.”  James' approach allows her to move from a more traditional landscape painting style to a contemporary spontaneous one.
Influences on James' artistic perspectives include the landscape painting of the Sung Dynasty; painters such as Matisse, Cezanne, Burchfield, Bonnard; and contemporary artists David T. Alexander, Jennifer Pochinski, Peter Doig, Eric Aho, and Marlene Dumas.
Hart James studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Art Institute, and with Anne Truitt, Vera Berdich, and Ed Pashcke, among others. In addition she studied art history and biology at Northwestern University, which has provided a strong background for her devotion to the arts. She has participated in artist residencies across the country including Oxbow, Morris Graves Foundation, Seaside, and the Vermont Studio Residency. James lives and works in Olympia, Washington.

Available Works
Harris Harvey GALLERY
1915 First Ave
Seattle, WA 98101
Tues - Sat 11:00 am - 5:00 pm; Mon by appointment
(206) 443-3315

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Spring Art Happenings

1/31/2021

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Living with Majesty

5/20/2020

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Behind Closed Doors: Infinity

A Virtual Mini-Exhibition of New Works
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Hart James seeks to bring the infinite quality of nature to form on the canvas.

Cezanne said, ‘Nature is on the inside.” By finding the nature within us, we are able to maintain our balance. Mandela said that the infinite is within us.

The past two months have challenged and strengthened the importance of this act.

James’ work speaks of the energy of nature—the current of the water, the flow of the air over us, and the rock formations that form the foundation under our feet. Using oil, and charcoal, every painting is an attempt to reunite with an existence symbiotic with the natural world

Living with Majesty

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Herman Hesse on Trees

5/10/2020

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkQ-6LvbwdI&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2zPjCsyWKJ87ahkdyAmg3nDjkIq-SqGMDXpMKalhioe8LAF0--Kdj1W5k
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the Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at SPSCC - Virtual Show

4/1/2020

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Hart James opens her studio to visit with Gallerist Sean Barnes for the 2020 Juror's Invitational Exhibition.
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Hart James: a Layering of existences Imbued With Intense Energy

3/24/2020

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Oly Arts

Hart James: a Layering of existences Imbued With Intense Energy


PUBLISHED ON MARCH 20, 2020
By Alec Clayton
Hart James is quickly becoming one of the Olympia area’s most beloved visual artists. People who have not seen her paintings should do so.

“Life is a layering of existences. Each layer is imbued with intense energy,” James explains. “My work speaks of this energy and these layers; the current of the water, the flow of the air, the rock formations that form the foundation under our feet and the movement of those foundations, the layers of time in each form. The natural world is very simply alive and very complex. It is as much a part of us as our circulatory system. This fact is nothing to be taken for granted.”

James grew up on a farm, spending her days wandering 1,500 acres of nature. Observing — always observing — studying the beauty, the transience, the processes and cycles, the details of construction in nature. She wandered the family farm and all of the adjoining farms of the neighbors.

In these surroundings, James became attuned to the natural world in a way that she says seems “more connected to earlier societies, than with our present day world.” She goes on to say that she “intuited natural processes that are just now being ‘discovered’ by modern scientists.” She came to understand the infinity of space, the insignificance of man, the transient nature of life, and the omnipotent power of the life force of nature — all by the age of ten. All of this informs her life today.
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James Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the San Francisco Art Institute, with Anne Truitt, Vera Berdich and Ed Pashcke, among others, and studied art history and biology at Northwestern. She has attended artist residencies across the country, including Oxbow, Morris Graves Foundation, and Seaside. In 2017, she was awarded a fellowship to attend Vermont Studio Residency.

Locally, James has had solo exhibitions at All Sorts Gallery and the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, and has been in many of the annual juried exhibitions at the Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) and Tacoma Community College. She is among a handful of artists chosen to be in the Juror’s Invitational at SPSCC, featuring the best artists from this year’s juried exhibition. She is currently represented by Harris Harvey Gallery in Seattle, Smith&Vallee Gallery in Edison and Waterworks Gallery in Friday Harbor.

James’ paintings are slightly abstracted landscapes in oil and charcoal, quite frequently picturing flowing rivers and mountains. There is rock-hard solidity to her paintings that brings to mind Cézanne’s statement that he wanted to make impressionism into “something solid and durable, like the art of museums.”
Fellow landscape artist Mary McCann says of James’s painting, “I often think about the validity of landscape painting. What more can be said that hasn’t already been addressed? The answer to that question becomes a moot point when I see work by an artist that demands that the viewer look again. Hart James is such an artist.”

McCann continued, “Yes, she skillfully uses paint and form to depict scenes that are instantly recognizable. But to me, her work is not really about the landscape but about the emotional and mystical power it has over all of us. If an artist is successful at raising the bar above and beyond the landscape itself, then the emotional impact seeps in. Hart is making that happen in her beautiful paintings.”

Great painting is always about more than the subject. A photograph or our own eyes out in nature can show us the beauty and majesty of the natural world. Great art must do more than that. Be it landscape or the human figure or arrangements of pure form, it must show us the beauty and majesty of paint applied to canvas, the solidity and unity and variety of color, shape and mark-making. Hart James does this.

Hart was scheduled to show her work at Olympia Arts Walk April 24-25, 2020. The event was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Visit Online
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at Harris Harvey Gallery, 1915 First Avenue,   Seattle, WA

11/30/2019

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Vermont Studio Center Video

9/3/2018

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with the kind help of Siddharth Choudhary.
this video is an active painting.
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Seattle Show, August 2018

9/3/2018

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Allsorts Gallery Opening—April 16th, 2018

4/16/2018

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Hart James is an ambitious artist in our midst. Trained as a horticulturalist, James made her living in the nursery and garden-design business, but in recent years she’s become a painter. Every year her work gets stronger, and at this point she’s hitting a stride you’d do well to witness, with a show titled ZEN at Allsorts Gallery. These are new works since James’ winter residency at the Vermont Studio School, not seen before in the Pacific Northwest - expressionist landscape paintings displaying a steely strength and power. The color is wintry, and the marks are decisive and energetic. The works are mostly unframed, and may be bought quickly. Get there early.

Allsorts Gallery is itself a very original revolving pop-up gallery in the Charters/Serembe household at 2306 Capitol Way S. At the reception there are always ridiculously good eats.

Reception April 22, Earth Day, 4-6 if I remember right.

Gallery also open on Artswalk weekend, Friday April 27 and Saturday April 28, from 5-7, and on April 19, 20 and 21.

B there or B square.         
Susan Christian
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    Hart James, a visual artist in Anacortes, WA

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Hart James
(859) 333-7961 /
hart@hartjames.com
 Anacortes, WA 98221
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