James Aitchison ~ Paintings & Drawings
Welcome, and please enjoy looking at my paintings. My work will be exhibited at the Oceanside Museum of Art from July 10 to September 19 in "Out of Oceanside: Aitchison, Gross, and Tysinger" an exhibit curated by Beth Smith featuring the work of three artists, myself (paintings), Burt Tysinger (scupture), and Michael Gross (drawings) whose studios are located in the City of Oceanside, CA. The exhibit opens July 10 with a preview reception from 5-7pm (members complimentary, non-members $8. Included below are images of some of my work from this exhibit.
To
purchase my work, please contact me by e-mail: jaitchis@ucsd.edu
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Above, left to right, Mark-Elliott Lugo, |
Here
I am in front of one of my favorite spots, the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur |
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| Walter,
Fred, and I in Fred's studio in Belmont, CA, July 2004 |
My Studio |
This is the full title of the painting, “Mary, Mary, Don't
You Weep, Don't You Mourn”
(it is also the full text of Leadbelly's version of this traditional song):
Oh Mary, don't you
weep, don't you mourn; I grew up in the
California desert, along Highway 111 in the shadow of the Santa Rosa mountains.
Drawing, painting, and reading provided summer solace. Frank Buck carried me
to greener mansions. T.E. Lawrence was my navigator. Alone in dark, cool corners,
my imagination knew no bounds. I traveled the world. No authority needed to
be consulted. My pen outfitted my canoe for trips up the Amazon. I populated
my Tahitian studio with maidens with my pencil. Rimbaud visited my desert hideaway.
Wild horses fought among the sand dunes. My omnium gatherum served me, feeding
my imagination with forms from which I created beings. I learned to communicate
with accidents, and I was able to exaggerate the real. Solo exhibit, Oten Art Gallery, Yellow Springs, OH, 1964 Lectures,
Teaching & Professional Contributions: Guest Lecturer, Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, November 2000 Shamp of the City-Solo, Gordon, Jaimy (First Edition: Treacle Press,
Providence, RI, 1972 and Third Edition: McPherson & Co., New York, 1993)
Studies:
Independent
Study: Links:
Oh Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn;
Pharaoh's army got drownded,
Oh, Mary don't you weep.
If I could I surely would,
Stand on the rock where Moses stood,
Pharaoh's army got drownded,
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Ol' Satan's mad an' I am glad,
Missed that soul he thought he had.
Pharaoh's army got drownded,
Oh Mary, don't you weep.
I may be right and I may be wrong,
I know you're gonna miss me when I'm gone!
Pharaoh's army got drownded,
Oh, Mary don't you weep."
In 1958 I was saved
from myself by my 8th grade art teacher, who guided me to a traveling van Gogh
exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History. The door opened on
that November day -- I took my first steps on a silent journey into the fragile
world of painting, and I probably came as close as I’ve ever come to intuitively
understanding what it is all about.
My current studio
is in Oceanside, California -- upstairs, facing the Pacific, and overlooking
the pier and a downtown in transition. I work principally with oil paints, though
I use a wide range of materials, including encaustic and various print techniques.
My work primarily involves the figure and often contains narrative elements,
though that has not always been the case. I have come to believe as Ludwig Wittgenstein
has said: "the human being is the best picture of the human soul."
I approach the canvas without preliminary sketches, but with paint and an intuitive
ordering of what the world has dished up. I make a mark as honestly and forcefully
as I can and struggle from there until a new ordering is born and the work comes
right. I look for opportunities to gamble in hope of discovering a memory, a
sound, a sensation, a truth. For me, painting is an act of faith.
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Selected Exhibitions:
“Out of Oceanside: Aitchison, Gross, and Tysinger,” Beth Smith, curator,
Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA), July 11-September 19, 2004
“OMA Regional 3,” Oceanside, CA, November 16, 2003-January 4,
2004
Mark Quint (Quint Gallery), Reesy Shaw (Lux Institute), and Tina Yapelli (SDSU
Gallery), jurors
“ACI Faculty and Friends Show,” Arts College International, San
Diego, CA, June 6-July 31, 2003
“It’s Hot,” Tres Gallery, San Diego, December 4, 2002-February
23, 2003
Southwestern College Art Gallery, Chula Vista, CA, October, 2001
Pasha Turley, curator
“Salon 2001,” invitational group show, Arts College International,
San Diego, September, 2001
“Chouinard: a Living Legacy,” Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside,
CA, July-August, 2001
Ed Flynn, curator
Galerie d'Art International, solo exhibit, July-August, 2001
San Diego Art Institute, June 2000, January, March, April, October, 2001, May
2002
Rob Bell, Pasha Turley, Sandra Chanis, Robin Bright, Debra Babylon, and others,
jurors
2001 Oceanside Museum of Art Regional Juried Exhibition, March-April, 2001
Don Bacigalupe, Erika Torri, and John Haynes, jurors
William D. Cannon Art Gallery 2nd Annual Juried Exhibition, November, 2000
Robert Perine and Mark-Elliott Lugo, jurors
“Spirit Explicit,” solo exhibit, Boehm Gallery, Palomar College,
San Marcos, CA, October, 2000
Viki Cole, curator
“Salon 2000”, invitational group show, Arts College International,
San Diego, August, 2000
California Center for the Arts COVA Exhibition, September-October, 1999
Ellen Fleurov, curator
Oceanside Museum of Art Regional Juried Exhibition, Summer, 1998
Hugh Davies, juror
13th Annual All-U.S. Juried Show, Wenatchee, WA, April-May, 1995
Athenaeum Third Annual Juried Exhibition, La Jolla, CA, 1993
Mark Quint, juror
“On Paper: Images & Illusions”, Santa Ana College, Santa
Ana, CA, 1984
Suzanne Muchnic, juror
New Acquisitions, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA, 1974
James D. Phelan Award Show, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA, 1971
Solo exhibit, The Little Theatre, Yellow Springs, OH, 1965
Group Show, La Jolla Art Institute, La Jolla, CA, 1962
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(series of four lectures/gallery talks in conjunction with solo exhibition)
Guest Juror, San Diego Art Institute Group Show, December, 2000
Artist Advisory Committee, San Diego Art Institute, 2000-2002
Advisory Board Member, Chouinard Foundation, 1999-ongoing
Curator, Chouinard: A Living Legacy, the Middle Years, 1949-1960, July-August,
2001
Kruglak Gallery, Mira Costa College, Oceanside, CA (with Bob Perine, Ed Flynn,
and Nobuyuki Hadeishi in multi-venue exhibit at Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside,
CA; Kruglak Gallery; and Boehm Gallery at Palomar College, San Marcos, CA)
Painting Instructor, Arts in Corrections, 2001-2002
Calipatria State Prison, Calipatria, CA - Teaching painting classes to prisoners
incarcerated in Calipatria facility through Bakersfield College Arts in Corrections
program. (Though this highly successful program paid for itself by proven reductions
in rates of recidivism by its prisoner participants, and in spite of the many
efforts on the part of David Beck-Brown, Artist Facilitator at Donovan State
Prison, to work for its reinstatement, the State of California has discontinued
hiring artist facilitators to provide classroom instruction to prisoners.)
Published
Work & Writing:
Cover design and illustrations, with an additional illustration for the 1993
edition
The Fall of Poxdown, Gordon, Jaimy (Treacle Press, Providence, RI, 1973)
Cover design and illustrations for poem
She Drove Without Stopping, Gordon, Jaimy (McPherson & Co., New York,
1993)
Cover design (detail, Spirit Explicit, oil on linen, 54" x 48"1993)
Chouinard, A Living Legacy, (Artra Publications, 2001)
Essay, “The Middle Years, 1949-1960” for exhibit catalog
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Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA, 1959; 1965-1966
Studio courses in drawing, painting, and sculpture; academic courses in
art history, history, and literature for an undergraduate degree program.
La Jolla Art Center, La Jolla, CA, 1961-1963
Studies in drawing, painting, art history, and academic courses for an undergraduate
degree program (La Jolla Art Center was administered by The Regents of the University
of California and located in what is now the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary
Art.)
Studio, New York City, NY; (1963-1964); mentors included Michael Lekakis and
Ngoot Lee
Studio, Yellow Springs, OH (1964-1965)
Studio, Frederick County, Maryland (1967-1969)
Photo Production Manager, Frederick News & Post, Frederick, Maryland, 1967-1969)
Traveled and painted in Europe while working on restoration of Ashford Castle
Hotel (Cong, County Galway, Ireland), Waterville Lake Hotel (Waterville, County
Kerry, Ireland), and Kilfrush House (Knocklong, County Limerick, Ireland) (1970-1980)
Duckywaddle's Emporium...a
great gallery -- a feast for all the senses, especially fun
Oceanside Museum
of Art
Boehm
Gallery
The contents of
this site are made available for downloading by non-commercial users only. Any
further reproduction or redistribution of the contents of this site is a violation
of the copyright law and may result in severe civil & criminal penalties, unless
prior authorization is obtained from James Aitchison. © 2004 James Aitchison.
All rights reserved.
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