Welcome to my website, James Griffin
Welcome to my Website
I would like to invite you to the Opening Reception for the Cross Pollination Exhibition. It is a collaborative effort featuring the artwork of James and Debbie Griffin and their grandchildren. Opening Reception is October 2nd, from 6:30-9:00 at the Fischman Gallery at 133 Commerce Street in Johnson City, Tennessee. The exhibition will be on display for the month of October.
The Fischman Gallery is proud to present "Cross-Pollination”, an exhibition featuring the artwork of Debbie and James Griffin. The exhibition explores the multi-layered, collaborative nature of their creative partnership, highlighting the ways that these two artists inspire and shape each other. The Opening Reception will be held at the Fischman Art Gallery at 133 Commerce Street in Johnson City, Tennessee. on October 2nd, from 6:30-9:00. The exhibition will be running for the month of October.
"Cross-Pollination" brings together a vibrant dialogue of mediums and textures and ideas. The seeds of the exhibition were planted when Debbie brought a collection of her hand-woven scarves into James' painting studio. Hung alongside freshly completed canvases, the unexpected harmony of the pieces sparked a revelation. The collection captures a creative cycle of shared ideas: the transition from canvas paintings to the tactile world of woven fibers, and back again. Visitors will experience how a simple woven grid can transform color into entirely new, unexpected, and harmonious dimensions.
The exhibition will also showcase a diverse range of responses to the world—from Debbie's macro-views of light and shadow on the forest floor and her fish pond to James' brightly colored interpretations of his inner and outer world.
Cross-Pollination" also honors the artists' role as educators and grandparents and will include selected works by their grandchildren, honoring their belief that art is a shared expression of joy and uninhibited creativity.
My Painting with Expression Workshop will take place on November 7th and 8th at the Griffin Art Gallery in Jonesborough. The workshop is currently full. If you would be interested in taking a workshop with me in the future, please send me an email or call at (941) 993-9973 for more details. This is the last event taking place at the Griffin Art Gallery in Jonesborough. In November we are moving the gallery to 240 East Main Street in downtown Johnson City, Tennessee.
The Griffin Art Gallery will be relocating to 240 East Main Street in Johnson City around mid-November. More information to come. I am so delighted about the new space. We will have a street presence and lots of walls to fill with local art.
More News...............................
Sometimes an opportunity presents itself that seems unlikely. I was contacted by the curator for the Office of Art in Embassies with a request to include two of my paintings in the American Embassy in Singapore, Iridescence and Allegro- White Bird of Paradise were sent to Singapore. I feel very honored that my paintings will hang in the American Embassy in Singapore.
On April 25th, I attended the Opening Reception at the Bottinelli Fine Art Gallery in the River Arts District in Asheville for the Spring Exhibition where five of my paintings are on display. I am very happy to be represented by this gallery.
On May 8th the Griffin Art Gallery we had an Opening Reception titled, Hello Spring. My paintings along with the artwork of several local artists were on display.
A little of information about me.
I am the owner of the Griffin Art Gallery located at 109 East Main Street, Suite B, in the historic town of Jonesborough, Tennessee. My wife. Debbie and I opened the gallery over three years ago. It has become place where the community can see local art as well as my own art and also partake of a variety of art classes. The community has been very supportive of our business and local artists. If you are ever in Tennessee, I hope that you will stop in and visit. We are open on Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays. Its a hike up a flight of stairs, but it is well worth the trip!
On Saturdays you can find me in my Gallery, teaching "Painting with Expression Classes". In this class, students learn the methods to make their paintings come alive. Students of all levels are welcome. I keep the class small, so that students can receive individualized instruction. I find that teaching gives me joy and sharing my knowledge about paintings makes the world a better place.
Art is the only career that I have known and I have been fortunate enough to make my living from painting for over five decades. My paintings have been featured in museums, in numerous solo exhibitions. My style is based in realism, but with a consciousness of the abstract just beneath the surface. I enjoy pushing the boundary between the two.
In addition to my gallery work I have been an illustrator for many years. My art has graced the covers of books around the world, ranging from Romance to Mysteries to Modern Fiction. I have done over 4000 illustrations and my work has helped sell millions of books. Born in Canada, I lived in Lima, Peru, London, England and Sao Paulo, Brazil as well as the USA. I received my Bachelor of Fine Art from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York in 1972. Throughout my life, I have straddled different worlds and cultures from 'high art' to pop culture. These varied influences come together in my paintings.
In 2022 my book,"The Road to Home, Art and Essays of James Griffin", was published, consisting of newsletters written during the last 10 years along with 130 reproductions of my paintings. This book is a very intimate journey into how I approach life and art. It is available at my gallery.
What have I been Doing this few years!
2024 was a busy year with two major art shows, starting with "A Tapestry of Movement" held at the William King Museum from August - January 2025. I filled the museum with 25 large paintings spanning over 50 years. It was an interesting study of the progression of my art work, noting the change in style but consistency in a theme over the years.
After that exhibition, my illustration work was in an exhibition titled, "Romancing the Novel" from January until March 2025 at the McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. This was the first major exhibition of the original art from the heyday of romantic book cover illustrations and it featured 18 of my paintings, as well as sketches.
In July, 2025 I taught a weekend workshop at the Beverley Street Studio School in Staunton, Virginia. It was my first time teaching a two-day workshop, but the time went so quickly and the feedback I received was positive.
I continue to alternate painting at the easel and playing the piano in my studio. I have been composing on the keyboard for a very long time and in a way that is similar to how I paint my more abstract pieces, I never know what I'm going to play, or paint until I begin! Sometimes I record the music and play it back while I work. This will become another show called "Painting and Piano".
