Education
- M.F.A., University of Texas at San Antonio
- B.F.A., Southwest Texas State University
- B.A., St. Mary’s University
Biography
James Joffe is an experienced visual artist and art educator with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in lecturing, student development, painting and research, he is a strong education professional with a Master of Fine Arts terminal degree focused on Studio Painting from the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Born in San Antonio, Joffe spent his youth living and traveling the American Southwest. Growing up in this environment and spending many hours in the back seat of his family’s car, experiencing the vast landscapes of this area, developed his fascination with the interaction between the natural geography of the terrain and the encroachment of the cities and their architectural structures. Seeing the beautiful tension of the colors and textures of the contemporary landscape has greatly inspired Joffe’s artmaking.
As a working visual artist, Joffe focuses on producing and exhibiting his artwork, which he has done since 1994. His paintings have been displayed in solo, two-person, group and competitive shows, and he has been selected for multiple regional, statewide and nationally juried art competitions.
Recently, Joffe exhibited his works in the prestigious “New Texas Talent XXV” 2018 at Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas and in the annual “Texas National” in 2010, 2016 and 2017 hosted by Stephen F. Austin University. He received the “Chrissie & Daniel Warner Donor Award” for his painting The Road to Amarillo, selected for the “89th San Antonio Art League & Museum Annual Juried Exhibition” in 2019, and the “Art Gallery Prudencia Donor Award” for his painting “She takes your hand…” at the 90th Annual Juried Exhibition at the San Antonio Art League & Museum in 2020. In 2021, Joffe had two paintings selected for the Center for Contemporary Arts National Juried Art Exhibition in Abilene, Texas, and repeated that in 2022 when two new artworks were chosen for the Center for Contemporary Arts National Juried Art Exhibition in Abilene, Texas.
Joffe has had several works published in several gallery and exhibition catalogs and articles about his work, including “Artist inspired by S. Texas landscape” by Steve Bennett on February 17, 2013, in the San Antonio Express-News. In 2023, he was a featured artist in “THE QUARTERLY | WINTER ISSUE 2023,” a printed international art magazine published by Dabster Art Inc. The article included nine photographs of his paintings and an in-depth interview with Dabster art director Yessica Torres.
As an art educator, Joffe has taught studio art and design at the university level since 2002 and has been a full-time faculty member at St. Mary’s University since 2010. His teaching focus and instruction have been on foundation art practices from oil, acrylic and watercolor painting to design fundamentals, color theory and drawing. He is also well-versed in new digital media and helped develop courses in introductory digital studio art and digital painting.
In Joffe’s studio art practice, he focuses on how visual connections are made from interweaving layered fragments and drawn elements in an abstract composition, evoking memory, and remembrance. He explores how intriguing color, shape and textural visual relationships can be made between elements he collects and photographs from the contemporary landscape. He then uses the collected fragments as source references for abstract compositions created with digital drawing applications. The designs of these works evolve intuitively at first as segments are collaged and interwoven. Drawn elements connect segments within the synthetic surface, engaging memories, recalling lyrics, and evoking transitory moments remembered. The finished composition becomes a perceptual mixture of these collected passing reflections presented as a designed memory. His process continues as the created digital design is reproduced on a painted surface. Joffe takes tremendous care to replicate the original digital artwork methodically and precisely on canvas. He effectively creates a painted facsimile of the original digital composition.