House Trailer: Moss Landing, CA, acrylic on canvas, 2002.

Opening reception, April 7, 2006 from 5-7pm.

A wise instructor once told his student “It is not the artist’s job to copy nature but to interpret it.” These words left a lasting impression on Ketchikan artist James Mix, and they continue to inform every aspect of the painter’s artistic process.

A native of California, landscape artist James Mix has been a Ketchikan regular for a total of nearly 8 years, throughout which he has absorbed local art wisdom from the likes of Ray Troll and Mary Ida Henrickson.  Now approaching his second consecutive year in town, Mix will unveil a collection of primarily watercolor and acrylic landscapes in Musings: the Soul of Landscape.

“I have always been enthralled with the visual details and wide scope of nature,” says Mix. “I don’t like to limit myself to one subject matter. I respond to a moodiness that comes over me…respond to views that are striking in a poetic way.”  Mix’s earlier works tend to be more exactly delivered and convey a sense of doting over a particular scene, whereas more recent works are less static and seem to have a dynamism and looseness indicating his progression and ability to be overcome by what lay before him.

While the show will encompass a long timeline of Mix’s work stretching from Ketchikan through California, some aspects remain constant; such as a love of trees and water rendered in a thick, linear fashion. Also treasured by Mix are the contrasts presented by Ketchikan, the pairing of community and town with pure nature and wilderness.

Unique to the recent work is Mix’s talent for abstraction of a natural scene, achieved through an airy and illuminated presentation and the blending of forms. “Lately I use ‘pure color’, unmixed paint right out of the tube.” These works are vibrant and hint at Impressionism, a well-loved art period of James’.