• ARTIST'S STATEMENT: Mind-Eye Magic
• EXHIBITIONS: Show and Auction Participation
• AWARD HISTORY: Recognitions Received
• MEMBERSHIPS: Professional Associations
• GALLERIES: Where Represented
• BIOGRAPHY: A Winding Road To Painting
ARTIST'S STATEMENT: "Landscapes are my primary subject and painting with mind-eye magic is the goal. Our
mind and eyes selectively ignore portions of what we see,
isolating what catches our interest from the rest of what is
in view. Interesting adjacent scenes remain 'in sight' in
memory as we turn to survey a wide panoramic view. And
yet, when the scene is reduced to a photograph, we can't
seem to use this mind-eye magic. The mountains often
lose their grandeur, power lines intrude, and wide expanses
of uninteresting foreground or sky now stand out." "My objective is to capture some of what my mind thinks I
see, rather than the absolutes that come from a camera,
and to do this while maintaining a sense of place. If some-
one familiar with the region looks at one of my paintings
and comments both that it's a nice painting and that they recognize the area being represented, then in my view I will have made a successful painting."
EXHIBITIONS - Jim's work has appeared in the following exhibitions and/or auctions (Juried events shown in lavender):
C.M. Russell Art Auction, Great Falls, MT
Oil Painters of America National Show, Missoula, MT
Richard Schmid Fine Art Auction, Rist Canyon, CO
Lines Into Shapes National Competition, Estes Park, CO
Bennington Center For The Arts, Bennington, VT
Yellowstone Art Museum Art Auction, Billings, MT
Cody Country Art League Annual Show, Cody, WY
Cheyenne Artists' Guild, Cheyenne, WY
Powell Rotary Art Fling, Powell, WY
Rocky Mountain Regional Show, Red Lodge, MT
Featured Artists, Cody Country Art League, Cody, WY
Winter Art Competition, Daniael Fine Art, Littleton, CO
Art Auction held Sept. 6th, 2009 at the Rist Canyon Mountain
Festival, Bellvue, Colorado
AWARD HISTORY
2009: Annual Show, Cody Country Art League, Cody, WY
- Wells Fargo Bank Award
Lines Into Shapes, Art Center of Estes Park, CO
- Mayor's Award
- 1st Place Oil/Scratchboard Category
39th National Juried Show, Cheyenne (WY) Artists Guild
- 1st Place Landscape Category
2008: Annual Show, Cody Country Art League, Cody, WY
- Honorable Mention
2007: Annual Show, Cody Country Art League, Cody, WY
- 1st Place Oil/Acrylic Professional Category
- Shoshone First Bank Award
1st Place in the Oil/Scratchboard Category at the 2009 Lines
Into Shapes exhibition held at the Art Center of Estes Park, CO.
MEMBERSHIPS - Oil Painters of America Associate Member
- Landscape Artists International
held at the Dana Gallery, Missoula, MT (Photo by Carol Schloss)
GALLERIES - Jim's paintings may be seen at: The Cody Country Art League
836 Sheridan Avenue
Cody, WY 82414
(307) 587-3597
www.codycountryartleague.com
The Carbon County Arts Guild & Depot Gallery
11 West 8th Street
Red Lodge, MT 59068
(406) 446-1370
www.carboncountydepotgallery.org
BIOGRAPHY: Jim Mossman was raised in Ramapo, NY and
attended Middlebury College for two years. He worked for the
State of Vermont for thirty-eight years in the fields of highway
location and design, property appraisal, computer program-
ming, systems analysis, and geographic information systems (GIS). His time was also taken up with competitive shooting, house remodeling, firewood cutting, square dancing, local elected service, bicycle time trials, and family. While always having an interest, there were only occasional
exposures to art during that time; first a class at Suffern High
School and years later intermittent workshops in Northfield,
Vermont with Bob Dikon, Rebecca Merrilees, and Kathy Ravenhorst-Adams followed by a Maine workshop with Tony van Hasselt & Judi Wagner.
Starting in 1997, Jim turned to graphic arts work weekends and nights to support GIS and cartography at his day job.
Recognizing that this work might benefit others as well, he
began making his graphic symbols available without charge
to other GIS users. Working as Data Deja View, he became
a national leader in GIS symbol production. In 2007, when
a company purchased most of his symbols, well over 100,000
of these free sets had been downloaded. Jim and his wife Kate moved from Vermont to Cody, WY in
2001. He credits the “Learning From the Western Masters” program at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody and its
instructor, artist M.C.Poulsen, as the major factors in his
decision to turn to painting full time in 2006. He has taken
painting courses at Northwest College in Powell, WY and
continues his art education with workshops, first in Cody at
the Pie In The Sky Artist Workshops (formerly Open Box M
workshops) and then at the Whidbey Island Fine Art Studio.
Workshop instructors have included: Richard McDaniel, Ned
Mueller, Frank Serrano, Ralph Oberg, John Potter, George
Strickland and John Budicin.
In 2009 Jim and Kate ventured to Fall City, WA for a
Whidbey Island Fine Art Studio workshop with George
Strickland and John Budicin. Here they take a shade
break during the Snoqualmie Valley's record heat. Living just a few houses off Cody's Skyline Drive (with its views towards Heart Mountain), "Skyline Art Studio" was a natural name for his studio. To take a virtual tour of the studio click here. Skyline also recalls Jim's and Kate's times hiking in the Green Mountains of Vermont as Skyliners in the Middlebury College Mountain Club. Return to top of page