Jim Waid’s work attempts to convey the fundamental process of nature: growth, decay, life, and death. While the paintings appear to be abstract at first, a closer look reveals them to be close-up views of nature, such as flora, insects, or a desert landscape. Rarely working in sketches, Waid paints directly onto the canvas and scrapes away layers to reveal what’s hidden underneath.

Jim Waid Paintings

  • Twelve-inch hardcover publication showcases 140 full-page images of Waid’s work covering 50 years of his artistry.
  • Foreword by Phoenix Art Museum Director Emeritus James Ballinger
  • Essay by curator and arts writer MaLin Wilson-Powell

For more information, Click Here

Biography and Resume

BORN
1942 Elgin, Oklahoma
RESIDES
Tucson, AZ
EDUCATION
1971 MFA University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
1965 BFA University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
FELLOWSHIPS & COMMISSIONS
1999 Mural commissioned for the Federal Courthouse, Tucson, AZ
1995 Oklahoma Art Institute, Teaching Internship
1985 National Endowment for the Visual Arts Fellowship Grant
1977 Commissioned by the City of Tucson to paint a 5 ft. x 59 ft. mural for the Columbus Branch Library, Tucson, Arizona
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015
2014
2013
2013
2012
2012
Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Threshold: New Works by Jim Waid” Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
“Full Spectrum,” William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO
“Altered Scapes: Paintings by Jim Waid,” Prescott College Art Gallery at Sam Hill Warehouse, Prescott, AZ
Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Songlines” Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2010 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
2008 “Botanical Improvisations: Jim Waid Works on Paper,” Temple of Music and Art, Tucson, AZ
2008 “Natural Selections: Jim Waid Paintings,” Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery, Pima Community College, Tucson, AZ
2008 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
2008 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2006 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006 “The View From Here,” Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2005 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2004 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
2003 In Full Spectrum,” Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
“Jim Waid: Work on Paper,” Terry Etherton Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2002 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
2001 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
“Groundwork: Drawings by Jim Waid,” University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson
2001 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
2000 Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2000 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago
2000 Benice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, FL
1999 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1999 Scottsdale Museum of Art, Scottsdale, Arizona
1999 Organic Tapestries, Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM
1999 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1998 Prichard Art Gallery, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho
1998 Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, New York, NY
1997 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1996 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1996 “Paintings of the 90’s”, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
1996 “Pastels & Monotypes”, The Temple of Music and Art, Tucson, Arizona
1995 Milagros Contemporary Art, San Antonio, Texas
1995 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona and Santa Fe, New Mexico
1994 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1994 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1993 Eve Mannes Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
1992 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1992 Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York, New York
1991 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1991 Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1991 Mitchell, Brown Gallery, Yucson, Arizona
1990 Boulder Visual Arts Center, Boulder, Colorado
1990 Linda Durham Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1990 Prescott Fine Arts Gallery, Prescott, Arizona
1989 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1988 Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, California
1987 Linda Durham Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1987 Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas
1986 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1986 Wright Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1985 Jonson Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
1985 University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
1983 Adam L. Gimbel Gallery, New York, New York
1983 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1982 Adam L. Gimbel Gallery, New York, New York
1981 Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
1980 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1978 Maggie Kress Gallery, Taos, New Mexico
1978 Cochise Fine Arts Center, Bisbee, Arizona
1977 “Arizona Artists Series: Jim Waid, Paintings and Drawings”, Sponsored by the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities (This exhibit toured Arizona)
1977 Harlan Gallery, Tucson, Arizona
1975 Limner Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1974 University of Montana, Missoula, Montana
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015
2015
2014
2014
2014
2014
2013
2013
2013
2013
“Livin’ Large” Works from the 1980’s,” The Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
“Abstraction.” Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
“An Unfolding Legacy”, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
“Paperworks” Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
Summer Group Show, Jean Albano Gallery, IL
“Winter Blues”, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Art and Environment,” Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM
“Natural Seductions: Paintings by Jim Waid, Jane Abrams, and Robert Cocke,” Etherton Gallery, Tucson, AZ
“Western, Not Western, William Havu Gallery, Denver, AZ
Wild, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
2012 Objects Extraordinaire, Highland Park Art Center, Highland Park, IL
2011 “The Paper Show”, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL”Limited Editions: Prints by Artists-Collectors”, Luis Carlos Bernal Gallery, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona”Songlines”, Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona”The Art of Collecting,” Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI”Family Ties,” Tohono Chul Park, Tucson, Arizona
2010
2010
“Into the Void: Abstract Art 1944-2008,” Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
“Check Up 1: Recent Additions to the MOTU Art Collection, 2005-2010” Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
2009
2009
2009
2009
Cool! Cool! Cool! Cool!, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Entering the Mainstream: Lithography in the 20th Century,” University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
“Art + Design, Etherton Invites,” Etherton Gallery, Tucson, AZ
“Paintings at Large,” Phoenix Airport Museum, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Tucson, AZ
2008
2008
“Pushing Paint Around: Selections from the Permanent Collection,” Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, AZ
“Big Stuuf: Works form the Permanent Collection.” University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
2007-8 “An Eclectic Eye: Selections from the Dan Leach Collection,” Tucson Museum of Art, AZ
2007 “Arts Botanica,” Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, IL
2006 “Painting, Alive and Well! Eight Master Artists,” University of New Mexico Museum of Art, Albuquerque, NM
“Loose Borders: Paintings Mediating Abstraction & Representation,” Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York, NY
2005 “Endless Summer,” Dennis Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO
“Flora et Fauna,” University of New Mexico Museum of Art, Albuquerque, NM
2004-05 “Painting the Town Red,” Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
2004
2004
“Out of the Blues,” Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Making the Scene,” University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2003
2003
2003
2003
“Scape of the Land”, Sisson Art Gallery, Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, MI
“January White Sale”, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Inflections of Illusion”, Etherton Gallery, AZ
Theater of Art”, Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2002 “Contemporary Visions of Nature”, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
2001
2001
“Reflections: 15th Anniversary Show”, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Prints and Plants”, Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2000
2000
2000
“Inaugural Exposition”, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, FL
“The First 35 Years”, Reva Yares Gallery, Seattle, WA and Santa Fe, NM
“Images of Nature”, Phoenix Art Museum, Pheonix, AZ
1999
1999
“American Landscape Survey,” Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK
“Green Woods and Crystal Waters: The American Landscape Tradition” Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK
1998
1998
1998
“Tribute: 20th Anniversary Exhibition”, Joseph Gross Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
“A Theater of Art,” Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
“Silver and Gold,” Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL
1996
1996
“A Gift of Vision: The William A. and Susan S. Small Collection”, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
“Surfaces” Selected Gifts from the William A. and Susan Small Collection”, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL
1995
1995
19951995
1995
“Paint and Paper,” Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, New York
“Flora as Metaphor,” Sandy Carson Gallery, Denver, Colorado
“Creative Collecting: Gifts from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Small, Jr.,” Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
University of West Florida Art Gallery, Pensacola, Florida
“Four Aritsans in Monotype: Nick Dematties, Gladys Nilsson, Italo Scanga, and Jim Waid,” Quartet, Pensacola, FL
University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
1994 “Tucson Collects: 20th Century American Drawings and Watercolors,” Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
“Arizona on Paper,” Galleria Mesta Bratislvy, Bratislava, Slovakia
1993 “Fall Into the Abstract, ” Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
“Arizona Biennial”, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
“The Tenth Summer,” Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York, New York
1992 “Big Ideas — Large Scale Paintings”, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
“Abstraction”, Eve Mannes Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
“Big Ideas–Large Scale Paintings,” Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
1991
19911991
“Landscapes,” Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
“75th Anniversary Rocky Mountain National Park Exhibition”, Boulder Visual Arts Center, Boulder, Colorado; University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, Wyoming; Pueblo Art     Center, Pueblo, Colorado
“25th Annual Southwestern Invitational,” Yuma Fine Arts, Yuma, Arizona
1990 “Painting Divergence,” New Mexico State University Art Gallery, Las Cruces, New Mexico
1989
1989
“American Pastels – Recent Aquisitions”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
“Drawings,” Members Gallery, Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York
1988
1988
“Arizona Biennial,” Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
“Large Scale Paintings”, Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1987
1987
“Pastel Anthology II”, Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York, New York
“1987” Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
1986 “Empowered Painting”, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1984 “Six Artists”, David Olenick Fine Arts, New York, New York
1983-1984 “Santa Fe Festival of the Arts — Four State Survey”, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1983 “Arizona’s Finest”, Fine Arts Center, Tempe, Arizona
1982 “Works on Paper”, Adam L. Gimbel Gallery, New York, New York
“Paradigm: Eight Individual Views”, Phoenix Art Museum and Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona
1981 “1981 Four Corner States Biennial”, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
1980 “Westart 1980”, Harkness House, New York, New York
1979 “First Western States Biennial”, Sponsored by the Western States Arts Foundation. Selected exhibition itinerary: Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California; Newport Harbor Art Museum, California
“New Artists in New York,” Alex Rosenberg Gallery, New York, New York
1978 “20 Arizonans”, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
“1978 Southwestern Biennial”, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM
1977 “35th Corcoran Biennial of American Painting”, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
1975 “L.A. #1”, Museum of Science and Industry, Los Angeles, California
1973 “Four Corner Annual”, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
COLLECTIONS
The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
American Embassy, Ecuador: Art in Embassies Program, US State Department
Anderson, DeBartolo and Pan, Inc., Tucson, Arizona
Arthur Anderson & Company, Chicago, Illinois
Champion International Corporation, Stanford, Connecticut
Charles B. Goodard Center for the Visual Arts, Ardmore, Oklahoma
Chemical Bank, New York, New York
Coca Cola Bottling Company, Atlanta, Georgia
College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio
Coopers & Lybrand, Seattle, Washington
Denver Museum of Art, Denver, Colorado
Dworsky & Associates, Los Angeles, California
Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
IBM, Montvale, New Jersey
J.B. Speed Museum, Louisville, Kentucky
Johnson Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
J.P. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., New York, New York
MacDonalds Corporation, Chicago, Illinois
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
MGM: Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Museum of Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
Nelson Arts Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
New Mexico State University, New Mexico
Oklahoma State Capitol Art Collection, Oklahoma City, OK
Paine Webber, Tucson, Arizona
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California
Peat, Marwick, Maine & Co., St. Paul, Minnesota
Phelps Dodge Corporation, Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Prudential Insurance Company, Chicago, Illinois
Salt River Project, Phoenix, Arizona
San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Arizona
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
Sprint USA, Kansas City, Missouri
Supercuts, San Francisco, California
Superior Court Art Trust, Washington, D.C.
Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida
Tucson Medical Center, Tuscon, AZ
Tucson Hilton East, Tucson, Arizona
Tucson International Airport, Tucson, Arizona
Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
The University of Arizona Art Museum, Tucson, Arizona
University of Indiana Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana
University of New Mexico, Museum of Art, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Valley National Bank, Tucson, Arizona
Ventana Canyon Loews Resort, Tucson, Arizona
Western Savings, Phoenix, Arizona
Westin La Paloma Resort, Tucson, Arizona
Yuma Art Center, Yuma, Arizona