James Quentin Young
James Young is a Christian artist, born in 1936 on the "West Side" of St. Paul, MN, a place of multiple ethnic and religious groups. He graduated from Macalaster College with a BA in art education and taught art in public schools for 32 years. He continued his education with an MFA in painting at the U. of the Americas in Mexico City. In 2008 Mr. Young was an artist-in-residence at the Henry Luce Center in Washington, D.C., and in Prague, Czech Republic in 2009.
James Quentin Young creates his art from old metal, wood, and other found objects. He has been an early advocate for recycling and renovating discarded items. His skill in restoring furniture, his study of jewelry making, and an MFA in painting are combined to make beautiful and provocative works of art. They may tell a story or simply be unique artworks in which the viewer recognizes bits and pieces from his own past.
Artist’s statement:
The color blue has been an occasional color in my art over the past 56 years. It seems the natural thing because we live on a blue planet. Recently that color is emerging frequently without a conscious effort on my part. Although I am known for the crosses I make, I have lately felt freer to create whatever happens. I have not stopped making crosses, and while making the Blue Series crosses often emerge due, I believe, to the Holy Spirit at work. A new direction in my work deals with the warming of our planet Earth, with examples of how it is affecting our animals and waters.