Pink Chair, James Strickland 2008

Are you self-trained, or did you go to art school?

After my stint as a priest, I became a student at Arizona State University, where I first studied architecture, but then quickly became interested in what was going on across campus from my department—it was the art department, specifically the sculpture classes that caught my attention. Ultimately, I graduated from ASU with a bachelor of arts in sculpture and a master's of fine art in jewelry. Later, I taught art at the University.

Is or was anyone else in your family in the arts?

I come from a long line of military men—my great grandfather, my grandfather and my father all went to West Point, and I was expected to do the same. I had no inclination to shoot at someone or get shot at, and at the time, the only “legal” way to avoid the draft was to be a conscientious objector. The Episcopalian Church was offering doctoral programs at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in California, and so in 1965 I made my way west, went through the program, and eventually became an ordained priest with my doctorate in theology.

In 1970 I changed my vocation—I became an artist.

A few years later, I moved to Oklahoma (there was a huge boom in the oil industry at that time), and was sculpting like crazy, selling an enormous amount of work, particularly to oil executives who wanted enormous sculptures for the corporate headquarters. After sculpting for quite a long time, I began to take up painting in about 1993. My first show of paintings was at the NTWH Gallery in Belfast, Maine in 2000.

Is the process of creating your art long or short?

Now that I'm 62, I feel that I know what I'm doing artistically. The process is a therapy for me—I get to see, to create and to realize my dreams and images. I try not to have a set process, but I would say that first I sit and dream or think. I usually start with sketches and then go straight to painting, which is not terribly time consuming. I also don't get hung up on unexpected circumstances. I know now that if the paint drips, it's OK—it is the painting telling me that it was supposed to happen.

Is there anything that defines you as an artist?

Maybe, however I have a lot of different interests, so I'm a little scattered and my days vary. There are days I want to paint chairs, days I want to sculpt, days I want to weld metal.

Are you disciplined about your creative process (in other words, do you treat the process like a job, where you keep particular hours in the studio), or are you more spontaneous?

One of the dilemmas that an artist has is how to self-start in the morning. So I really don't have a schedule, but I also don't wait for the inspiration to come to me. I work a lot and usually in the evening. For me, I think one of the most important things that artists do is to make decisions. The decision to do something is key, the execution is more a series of steps in order to fulfill the decision.

How have you handled the business side of being an artist?

Not very well. The hardest thing for an artist is to accept that people are willing to pay a lot of money for artwork. We have to bite our tongues and not shout out “Really?” when we ask for tens of thousands of dollars for a piece of art and the price is accepted.

What's the best part of being a full time, working artist?

I am in a field where I am still able to be thrilled. While I may be in somewhat of a "competition" with other contemporary artists and with any other art that already existed for quite some time, I can still go to museums and see art that literally takes my breath away.

What's the worst part of being a full time, working artist?

The scariest parts are the financial instability and the emotional ups and downs that that brings. Not knowing from one day to the next, we have to remain very philosophical about everything and know that everything always works out, one way or another.

Tell me something about your work.

The art world is not easy, the emotional turmoil is not easy, but art is the easiest, most comforting thing in my life. My favorite definition of art is “art is the simple statement that you're not alone”.

- Brenda Bonneville, editor
(Interview in Belfast on April 9, 2008)

Copyright © 2008 MAINE ART SCENE - Maine Arts & Culture Online Magazine.