Jim Richards

My very first painting was created when I was at a casual dinner party where the hosts handed out brushes, paint, a canvas panel at the door along with instructions to paint anything we wanted; the resulting painting would be shown at the end of the evening in an impromptu psychotherapy session. I don’t recall the psychotherapy session at all (repressed memory?), but I do recall the overall thrill of being totally absorbed in the painting process.

My initial classes from Virgil Elliott were the foundation for the basics of creating art, and years later, while I was responsible for an art gallery and portrait academy in Santa Fe, I was fortunate to meet some great instructors, watch their demonstrations and participate in workshops with them. They included Tony Ryder, David Leffel, Sherry McGraw, Leo Neufeld, Kevin Gorges, amongst others. All were inspirational and helped fuel my passion and appreciation for art, learning about art, and for creating art.

I have shown in galleries in Spokane Washington, Foster City California, Healdsburg California and currently show my art at The Gallery at Ten Oaks in McMinnville, Oregon, at the River Gallery in Independence, Oregon, and at the Elsinore Gallery in Salem Oregon. You can all see my art on my website at https://www.JimRichardsStudio.com.

Much of my art work is figurative realism and focuses generally on people in dance and also in the Native American pow wow culture. I am part Native American and have had a lifelong interest in the culture, energized by my uncle who lived as part of the Southern Piute tribe. His demonstrations of hoop dancing, arrowhead making, flute making, tanning of hides, and his keen interest in petroglyphs were greatly inspirational and was a big influence on my life, as were his daughters with their interest in creating colorful and intricate regalia and in the beautifully graceful pow wow dancing they exhibited. These memories are all in my mind as I portray the Native American culture.

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 14^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.