In the artist’s own words:
“Whether painting out in plein air, or in my home studio; whether painting birds, landscape, or views of nearby farms; in all of my paintings I hope to convey my reverence for the land, its wildlife, and our rural heritage. But while the subject matter may reflect my passions in life, the thread that ties all of my work together is more conceptual. My process is a search for poetic harmony — a harmony of design, evocative light and color. And through that search, I strive, as well, to create a luscious surface of paint and linen.”
James Coe is an artist with a passion for birds, nature, barns, and other relics of our rural heritage. He grew up in the suburbs of New York City, where he was fascinated by the shorebirds he spotted in nearby marshes. He taught himself to identify all the birds he spotted around town and began to paint when he and a friend set out to compile a guide to local birdlife.
Jim went to Harvard and majored in biology. He received no formal training in art until attending Parson’s School of Design in New York as a graduate student. After earning his MFA, Jim shifted gears and immersed himself in bird guide illustration. Jim contributed work to several books, including the Easy Bird Guide: West, Birds of New Guinea, and Frank Gill’s college textbook Ornithology, but is best known as the author and illustrator of the acclaimed Golden Field Guide Eastern Birds, published in 1994, and reissued in 2001 by St. Martin’s.
After spending fifteen years as an illustrator, Jim stepped back across the divide into the world of ‘fine’ art when he began painting plein air landscapes. While he continues to paint on-location, Jim’s studio artwork today is a synthesis of the two genres and combines a passion for landscape with an extensive knowledge of natural history. He often integrates a bird into the setting of a painting, while also striving to maintain the fresh handling of a plein air study. His goal is to introduce an element of movement, color, or interest to the composition, and strives to evoke the poetic quality of birdwatching: that magic moment when bird, environment, and atmosphere merge into one memorable image.
A Signature Member of the Oil Painters of America, American Impressionist Society. National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, and Society of Animal Artists, Jim serves of the Board of the SAA and as Jury Chair, overseeing the selection of the Society’s exhibitions. For more than 40 years he has shown in the Woodson Art Museum’s prestigious “Birds in Art” annual and in 2011 was recognized as the Museum’s 32nd Master Artist.
Jim’s has won awards in many professional juried exhibitions. He is represented in the permanent collections of the New York State Museum, Bell Museum of Natural History, Museum of American Bird Art at MassAudubon, the Hiram Blauvelt and Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museums. Jim has been featured in various publications, including Harvard Magazine, Plein Air, Wildlife Art, and American Art Collector. His paintings have graced the covers of Sanctuary, Bird Watcher’s Digest, Birding World, and The Auk, journal of the American Ornithologist’s Union.
Jim lives with his wife Karen on the western rim of the Hudson Valley, not far from Albany, NY.
