Eagle print
Washington . “ It has allowed me to bring my cultural art to a different level with that modern twist ,” he says .
“ Family ”
When Grey ’ s Anatomy calls
One of James ’ favorite designs made it onto the set of the hit show “ Grey ’ s Anatomy .” In Season Four , Episode 12 titled “ Where the Wild Things Are ,” Lexie Grey steals items from the hospital to furnish her apartment . When she took James ’ art off the wall , he yelled , “ Nooooo , I ’ m off the show !” But it wasn ’ t long before the painting was returned . “ I was so excited to see my art back on the show ; I was like ‘ I ’ m back !’”
The near-constant innovation in his work comes from a competitive drive that was nurtured through his love of football . James played in high school and would have played at the collegiate level had a couple of opportunities not fallen through . Although incredibly disappointing , he didn ’ t let the dream die there . He has coached his sons — Jayden , 17 , and Jevin , 16 — through their years of playing the sport .
James discovered a new driving force for his work when he became a father . “ My kids swiftly became the foundation of everything I wanted to create ,” he says . “ A lot of my artwork is based on them , inspired by them , or representative of them — they are almost always incorporated into my work .”
Many of James ’ pieces include three dorsal fins to represent him and his sons or his grandfather and his sons . “ My boys are always on my mind ,” he says . And at times , they have been right there beside him , leaving their own creative marks on James ’ creations .
A large , fused glass window with a beautiful picture of canoes , commissioned for Cabela ’ s , needed petroglyphs added to the stone base . To counter the refined nature of his work , James asked his boys to draw orcas and salmon to help him rough up his work enough to pass as petroglyphs . “ I thought ‘ why would I try to copy their work ? I can ’ t do any better than that ,’ so I used their work to etch the designs on the stone and gave them credit on the piece — they became professional artists pretty young .”
40 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE