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James Coe
AFC, SAA, OPA
Birds, Landscapes |
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Jim Coe is an artist with a passion for birds and nature.
Growing up in the suburbs of New York City, he was fascinated early on by the egrets and shorebirds he noticed in nearby salt marshes, and he taught himself to identify the birds he spotted around town. He began to paint as a teen when he and a friend set out to compile a guide to the local birds.
Jim went on to Harvard, where he earned a degree in biology (with the goal of becoming an ornithologist), but received little formal training in art until he attended Parson’s School of Design in New York as a graduate student. There he studied in a traditional atelier setting, working primarily from the figure and still life, under the guidance of painters Paul Resika, Leland Bell, and John Heliker.
Immediately after earning his master’s degree at Parson’s Jim shifted gears and immersed himself in the art of field guide illustration. He contributed work to several books, including the recently reissued Easy Bird Guide: West, and Birds of New Guinea, and to Frank Gill’s classic college textbook Ornithology. But he is best known as the author and illustrator of the acclaimed Golden Field Guide Eastern Birds, first published in 1994, and reissued in 2001 by St. Martin’s Press.
Finally, after more than fifteen years of painting nothing but bird identification plates, each carefully rendered in watercolor and gouache, Jim stepped back across the divide into the world of ‘fine’ art, and he turned his attention to painting landscapes in plein air. He found that many of the skills needed to capture the fleeting light and dynamic conditions of the landscape are analogous to those he had previously developed for sketching an active bird as it foraged or preened. Both rely on careful observation, practiced visual memory, speed, and instinct. But the vigor and physical energy that it takes to dash a quick field
study in oil paints were new to Jim's work at that time, and they clearly helped shape his approach to painting.
Today, Jim’s studio work is essentially a synthesis of the two genres: his paintings combine his passion for landscape with a finely detailed knowledge of natural history. In his newest canvases, he integrates birds into his landscapes, while striving still to maintain the freshness and vigorous brushwork of a plein air study. The chosen bird is usually one that he heard or observed while working at that location, and it adds an element
of movement, color, or interest to the scene. Jim’s goal is not just to portray the bird or the setting, but to evoke the entire visual experience of bird watching.
A signature member of the Society of Animal Artists and member of the Society’s Board of Directors, Jim shows regularly in the Society’s annual exhibitions. He is also a regular exhibitor in the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s prestigious "Birds in Art" annual and in the Bennington Center for the Arts’ shows: “Art of the Animal Kingdom” and "Impressions of New England.” He is also a signature member of the new Artists for Conservation and has shown with their annual juried exhibit hosted by the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in Oradell, NJ.
Jim is represented in the permanent collections of the New York State Museum, Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Hiram Blauvelt and Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museums, and the Bennington Center for the Arts. Jim’s artwork was the subject of a feature article in the May-June 2003 issue of Wildlife Art, and his landscapes have been featured in Fine Art Connoisseur
(formerly Plein Air Magazine). His paintings have appeared on the covers of Sanctuary, Bird Watcher's Digest, Birding World, and The Auk, professional journal of the American Ornithologist’s Union.
Jim lives with his wife and two children on the western rim of the Hudson River Valley, not far from Albany, NY. He maintains a home studio in their restored farmhouse and enjoys the
quiet and beauty of the surrounding farms and woodlands.
More of his work can be seen on his website:
www.jamescoe.com, as well as a schedule of his upcoming Landscape Painting workshops.
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Special Achievements:
- 2009 - Medal of Excellence, Artists for Conservation
"Snowy Fields" was awarded a Medal of Excellence by the Artists for Conservation at the September 2009 opening of its 2nd annual members' exhibition hosted by the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in Oradell, NJ.
- 2009 - First Prize - Laumeister Competition, Bennington Center for the Arts
"April, Woodhull's," a plein air landscape painting of a historic farm in New Baltimore, NY was honored with First Prize at the inaugural Laumeister Competition, sponsored by the Bennington Center for the Arts, in Bennington, VT. Another landscape of mine, "Yellow Farmhouse in Snow" won an Honorable Mention in the same competition.
- 2008 - Award of Excellence, Society of Animal Artists
"Mallards on Melting Ice" was honored with an Award of Excellence by the SAA at the opening of the Society's 48th Art and the Animal exhibition at Neville Public Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
- 2006 - Painting Acquired by Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum
"Spring Melt--Red-winged Blackbird", has been acquired by the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in Oradell, NJ. The purchase award was announced last October at the opening of the Society of Animal Artists Annual Exhibition in Bennington, VT.
- 2005 - Landscapes featured in Plein Air Magazine
My plein air landscapes were featured in April 2005 issue of the new publication Plein Air. The article, titled "The New Hudson River School," cited several landscape painters active in the Hudson Valley today, and compared their approach to that of the Nineteenth Century Hudson River painters.
- 2005 - Painting Acquired by Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
"Spring Thaw, Honey Hollow," which was juried into this year's Birds in Art exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau Wisconsin, has been acquired by the museum for their permanent collection.
- 2004 - Winner of Purchase Award, New York State Museum
One of my original field guide illustrations, "Rocky Coast Shorebirds" was purchased by the New York State Museum for their permanent collection. It was one of four originals selected from last year's "Focus on Nature" biennial exhibition at the Museum.
- 2003 - "James Coe, Changing Focus" Wildlife Art Magazine article
This feature article in the leading magazine about Wildlife Art focused on the recent evolution of my artwork from tightly rendered illustration plates to my more painterly, impressionistic oil paintings of birds in the landscape.
Collections:
- Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
- Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum
- Massachusetts Audubon Society Visual Arts Center
- Bennington Center for the Arts
- Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum
Publications:
- The Easy Bird Guide: Western Region (2006)
Illustrator - A revision of the 1989 MacMillan guide listed below.
Author: John and Edith Bull
Published by: Falcon Guide (Globe Pequot)
- Eastern Birds: A Guide to Field Identification (2001)
Author and Illustrator - Designed primarily for beginner and intermediate birders, this Golden field guide was first published in 1994. A revised and updated 2nd edition was released in 2001.
Author: James Coe
Published by: St. Martin's Press (Golden Field Guide series)
- Ornithology (2nd ed.) (1995)
Illustrator - This textbook has become, since it's initial publication in 1990, the primary reference for college level ornithology courses. My main contribution was a series of 31 black & white plates illustrating Gill's taxonomic survey of the Birds of the World.
Author: Frank Gill
Published by: W.H. Freeman & Co.
- Birds of North America: Western Region (1989)
Illustrator - An abridged, compact guide to birds of the American West. Unique in its organization of the Passerines (songbirds) into identification plates sorted by color. Currently out-of-print.
Author: John & Edith Bull
Published by: MacMillan
Organization Membership:
- 2010 - American Impressionist Society
- 2004 - Artists for Conservation
- 2004 - Oil Painters of America
- 2002 - Society of Animal Artists
Signature Member; on Board of Directors since 2009
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