Jim grew up hiking the mountains and deserts of New Mexico. His father was an avid outdoorsman and taught him to appreciate the beauty of nature at an early age. Jim spent 2 decades as an electronics engineer designing hardware for the space program. In 2009 Jim and his wife vacationed on Maui. They both fell in love with the island and the ocean. One of Jim's favorite jokes was that New Mexico had the worlds greatest beaches, just no water to go with them. It was time to move to the water. "I feel that Maui is the perfect place for an artist to be. There is so much variety and beauty here. From the stark moonscape atop Halealaka to the lush rainforest of the northern slopes and the sunsets rival the incredible ones I grew up with in New Mexico." His love of nature shows in the details of his work.
Jim's Wood N Glass
About the Artist
About the Art
I've chosen wood and glass as the media for my art because I believe its the perfect fusion with the earthy tones of fine wood matched with the vibrant colors of glass.
The woods I use include Koa, a native Hawaiian wood know for its deep luster and beautiful grains, Mango, another local wood amber colored with unpredictable grain patterns, Zebra, so called for its alternating black and white grain, lacewood, purple heart and coconut.
The glass is warm glass also know as fused glass. It comes in sheets of various thickness and also as ground glass known as frit. Its available in a multitude of colors and transparencies. The glass is shaped by cutting and grinding and I can "paint" using the frit in much the same manner as the Navajo sand paintings. The glass is then fired in a kiln at between 1220 and 1530 degrees to fuse the glass into a 1/4" or thicker plate. The glass can then be placed into molds and fired again to produce different shapes.
Because of the variability in both the wood and glass and the fact that each piece is hand carved and ground, every piece of artwork I create is truly a one of a kind masterpiece.
The artwork can be displayed as a wall hanging or table top when using the custom display stands created using the same fine wood as the artwork frame.
Because of the ability of colored glass to diffuse light, the artwork changes dramatically with the addition of white and colored spotlights.