James Coe:
Birdscapes
James Coe:
Birdscapes
Catalogue accompanying the exhibition
Birdscapes: Recent Oil Paintings by James Coe Museum of American Bird Art, January 29–May 14, 2017 963 Washington Street, Canton, MA
Cover:
Low Tide, Wellfleet (Detail) See p.36
© 2017 James Coe Designed by Jonah Coe-Scharff Printed in the United States by Blurb Second Printing (Februray 2017)
Preface When I last exhibited my paintings at the Museum of American Bird Art I was experiencing a kind of artist’s mid-life crisis. At the time, I was in transition from my early career as a field guide illustrator into a full-time oil painter. And Finding a Place for Birds, the title of my 2002 MABA show, alluded to my ongoing search for a new visual language through which I could combine my lifelong passion for birds with my rediscovery of plein air landscape painting. So I am thrilled to return to MABA fifteen years later with Birdscapes: Recent Oil Paintings by James Coe. Featured in this new show will be nearly three dozen oil paintings that represent a now fully-realized personal style. Kathy Foley, director of the Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin has described my birdscapes as “ethereal, moody, and sensitive all at once.” This recent work is perhaps less about bird painting and more about an exultation of my experiences in nature. This book doubles as a portfolio of my paintings from the last decade and as a catalogue for the exhibition at MABA, which includes most, though not all, of the work reproduced here. A section at the back of the book includes a dozen small studies on paper that are also part of the museum exhibition. James Coe Hannacroix, NY January 2017
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River Reflections, Fire and Ice Common Merganser 2011 Oil on linen 24 x 44 Collection of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
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Introduction I first became aware of Jim as the author/illustrator of the superb 1994 Golden Guide, Eastern Birds. Five years later, I saw his plein air landscape paintings. I was instantly smitten. And I could barely believe those loose, painterly compositions were the work of the same hand that had done the exacting field guide illustrations. Who was this person who seemed to be so many things: author, illustrator, naturalist, painter—and who was so successful in such different realms? What Jim has called the “disparate threads” of his life, were woven together from childhood. By age 13 he was, in his own words, “totally obsessed with birds.” And his obsession was not just with observing birds, but also with drawing them. He traced and copied paintings by Eckelberry, Lansdowne, Peterson, and others. Jim’s obsession grew. In high school, a sympathetic teacher encouraged Jim to write a letter to one of his heroes, Don Eckelberry. This brave letter initiated an important mentoring relationship with the artist. When it came time for college, Jim chose to study ornithology at Harvard, nudged by his parents to focus on a subject that was more likely to produce a steady income than bird art. But he couldn’t resist a few studio art courses, and began to wonder whether a career in science might be too constraining. Yet after completing college, his path still wasn’t clear. He was drawn to and completed a graduate course in painting at Parson’s School of Design in New York. But he devoted 15 years of his career to meticulous, painstakingly detailed field guide plates in gouache and watercolor, which revealed not only his expertise as an illustrator but also his decades of experience in the field observing birds.
Then, not long before I met him about a decade ago, came his bold shift to plein air landscape paintings. As he explained to me at the time, “With the oils, my personality is on the surface. I want the viewer to feel the same sensation of light and air that inspired me, but I also want them to be conscious that they are viewing a painting. I want them to see my marks, feel the textures of the canvas and paint.” One particular characteristic of Jim has impressed me deeply: his desire to talk about his process of art-making—and not only about the successes. In his own words, “The trick of painting is to make it look easy, even though it never is.” He doesn’t hesitate to talk about the struggle. In his eyes, the struggle creates a more interesting painting. For many years, I’ve been lucky enough to have one of Jim’s paintings hanging over my mantel at home. I love it for its rich, evocative colors, the texture of the paint, and the masterful balance of the composition. But the date on the back tells part of the story of his struggle to create it. It says, “October 2000 to April 2002.” And the unusual shape of the canvas tells more, because it turns out he cut some inches off the bottom to make the composition work. And work it does. I’m continually rediscovering it—in varying light, or from different vantage points, it changes dramatically. But it always works. So it seems I have the privilege of living with not just one painting, but many—and all are a delight to the eye. Amy T. Montague Director Museum of American Bird Art
Autumn Roost (Detail) see p. 42
Birdscapes Whether or not a bird is literally represented in my paintings, I believe that my life-long love of birds informs and permeates every canvas. Indeed, when I am painting outdoors, I am keenly aware of the birds active around me as I work. I hear every song and every call, and I mentally add each bird to a list for the day. The birds present at that location on that particular day become integral to the art that I create. Back in the studio, I often find a way to express this awareness by painting one of those birds into a larger, more carefully considered statement of the motif.
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Afternoon Flight Red-tailed Hawk 2009 Oil on linen 24 x 30
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Soft Ice 2015 Oil on linen 24 x 34
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Snowy Fields Red-tailed Hawk 2009 Oil on linen 16 x 27
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River Ice, Evening Light Common Merganser 2011 Oil on linen 13 x 24 Private Collection
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Winter Refuge Long-eared Owl 2017 Oil on hemp 26 x 24
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Fresh Snow in the Pines Bald Eagle 2015 Oil on linen 18 x 22
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Mergansers with Melting Ice Hooded Merganser 2017 Oil on linen 26½ x 42½ The quiet Grapeville Creek flows towards the Hudson, passing just a mile from home. It continues to provide me with a rich source of painting ideas, especially in winter when the snow, ice, and open water create bold abstract patterns. Mergansers with Melting Ice is set on the Creek and is the third and largest version of this same motif that I have painted. Silver Light, Grapeville Creek and Gray Day, Open Water (pages 16– 17) also depict the Grapeville and explore the abstract designs carved through the winter landscape by its flow. I love to return to nearby locations to paint. Already familiar with the essential structure of the land, I can delve deeper while I work, hoping to find poetry in the landscape.
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Silver Light, Grapeville Creek Great Blue Heron 2010 Oil on linen 24 x 26 Courtesy of Albert Shahinian Fine Art, Rhinebeck, NY
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Gray Day, Open Water 2014 Oil on linen 16 x 19
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The beaver swamp with these picturesque old willow trees is not far from home, and I have returned to paint at the spot several times during the past decade. I love that my plein air studies serve as a visual record of gradual changes in the land. Compare the stature of the central trees in these three paintings to see how they have gradually collapsed into the swamp since I first started work on Swamp Willlows.
facing page:
Swamp Willows, Deep Snow
Swamp Willows
2015 Oil on linen 18 x 26
2015 Oil on linen 18 x 26
Swamp Willow Thicket 2014 Oil on linen on board 10 x 16
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The four years that elapsed between the study March Hillisde and completion of the large March Gold reflects the inherent challenge of this painting: the peculiar ochre color of the hillside was exposed only briefly each spring, between snow melt and the greening of the grasses. So I would race to work on the big canvas each year during ‘mud season’ before the landscape turned green and my sensibilities turned towards spring. Finally, in the third cycle, I realized that the perched hawk was too static for the scene. Letting go of that original concept freed me to make progress elsewhere on the canvas, and I rearranged the cedars on the slope, settling on a satisfying rhythm across the composition. The last stage required a return to the site to sketch passing clouds. I barely could find the spot where I had painted because the saplings and brambles had grown so huge in the four years that had passed!
March Hillside, Study Red-tailed Hawk 2011 Oil on linen 8 x 12
facing page:
March Gold Common Raven 2015 Oil on linen 28 x 40
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Reflections of April Red-winged Blackbird 2010 Oil on linen 16 x 22 Private Collection
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Spring Song, Red-winged Blackbird 2006 Oil on linen 14½ x 17 Private Collection The earliest painting included in the Birdscapes exhibition, Spring Song, Redwinged Blackbird dates back to when a bird’s name was still integral to the title of the painting. It was symbolic of my state of mind. Today, as is evident elsewhere in the exhibit, the bird in a Birdscape does not need to be identified to have its place in the scene; indeed, in some of the paintings, the presence of a bird is simply by implication and context.
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Composition with Two Plovers
Salt Marsh Study, Low Tide
facing page:
Black-bellied Plover 2015 Oil on linen on board 11 x 12¾
2012 Oil on linen on board 8 x 10
Greater Yellowlegs 2017 Oil on linen 24 x 30
The original reference photo for Salt Marsh Spring has so far inspired three paintings plus several studies. Four works included in Birdscapes are derived from that snapshot of the salt marsh at MassAudubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. This array of related artwork reveals much about my process. What began as a small oil sketch (Salt Marsh Study, Low Tide), developed into a larger version featuring three Least Sandpipers (not shown). I chose those tiny peeps after seeing them at the marsh but never was satisfied that they added to my painting. So I prepared a larger canvas
and started over. For an entire summer, I tested different wading birds to see which might best fit into the painting’s complex design. Willet Study (page 53) and Composition with Two Plovers both were studies in which I tested potential birds. At the same time as I was struggling with the large canvas, I saw potential of another composition in the exact same original reference: cropping a horizontal slice from the top and using that as the background for the flying plovers in Salt Marsh Plovers (page 27). A larger version of that same composition remains in progress in my studio.
Salt Marsh Spring
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Refuge among the Rocks Black-bellied Plover, juvenile 2013 Oil on linen 12 x 16
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Salt Marsh Plovers Black-bellied Plover 2013 Oil on muslin on board 12 x 18
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facing page:
Tidewater Evening Greater Yellowlegs 2014 Oil on linen 18 x 26
Quiet Reflections Great Egret 2016 Oil on linen 20 x 24
When I was a teenager, one of my favorite places to explore in the suburban New York town where we lived was a small preserve along a tidal creek. It was there that I taught myself how to identify birds. Greater Yellowlegs was the very first shorebird that I saw. So still today, 45 years later, I have a special affection for the light and color, and smells of the shore — especially the sulfurous mud of a salt marsh, exposed at low tide. It brings memories of 14-yearold me on my bicycle, with my heavy binoculars pulling at my neck, stealing the last minutes at the marsh, before racing home for dinner.
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One Morning in June Red-winged Blackbird 2012 Oil on linen 18 x 26 One Morning in June represents one of my earliest expressions of a Birdscape. Although so simply stated in the painting, the blackbird is essential to my memories and to the experience of painting at this swamp, located near Sandwich, New Hampshire. In early June when I visited, the air was bubbling with the courtship of dozens of birds, including several species of warblers and vireos, orioles, waxwings, swallows, grackles, and this Redwinged Blackbird. Pairs of Canada Geese, Wood Ducks and Mallards swam by my easel with broods of young in tow. And I watched as a huge cow moose waded into the swamp on the far shore. It was a very memorable morning in June.
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facing page:
Beaver Swamp Haze Great Egret 2010 Oil on linen 18 x 26 A plein air workshop demonstration painting was the original source for Beaver Swamp Haze. When I brought the study back to the studio, the weathered skeletons of drowned trees in the beaver pond seemed to call for the ghostly figure of an egret to fly behind them — although I saw no such creature while I was painting there.
Heron Study, Black Creek Green Heron 2010 Oil on linen on board 8 x 10 Private Collection
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A Place in the Sun Green Heron 2014 Oil on linen 16 x 20
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Pond Lilies and Gallinule Common Gallinule 2012 Oil on linen 24 x 30
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Low Tide, Wellfleet Snowy Egret 2011 Oil on linen 13 x 24 Private Collection
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Storm Clouds, Nauset Beach Great Black-backed Gull 2016 Oil on linen on board 12¼ x 21
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Magpie Black-billed Magpie 2015 Oil on linen 12 x 9
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High in the Pine Bald Eagle 2015 Oil on linen 20 x 24
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Evening Shadow Snowy Egret 2016 Oil on linen 16 x 20
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Roosting Heron, Portrait Study Great Blue Heron 2017 Oil on linen on board 12 x 14
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Autumn Roost Eastern Screech-Owl 2016 Oil on linen 30 x 24
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Quiet Moment in the Shade Wood Duck 2012 Oil on linen 14 x 22 Private Collection
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Listening for Woodcock 2016 Oil on canvas on board 14¼ x 20½
Winter Thicket 2012 Oil on linen on board 11 x 14
facing page:
Dusk on the Flats Short-eared Owl 2017 Oil on linen 18 x 27½ The hayfields and grasslands of the Coxsackie Flats (which actually represents the flood plain of a much wider, ancient Hudson River) attract a myriad of overwintering birds of prey, including harriers and Rough-legged Hawks. But my favorite is the Short-eared Owl, which is much more challenging to see, typically emerging to hunt just after sunset.
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Winter Light on the Shore, Study 2015 Oil on paper 8 x 12
Works on paper These small oil studies on paper have never before been shown or exhibited. They are my private ‘sketchbook’ paintings: quick single-session (a la prima) notations for my own reference — to test the validity of a painting idea, or to explore a particular color scheme or composition. Most are painted late at night and reflect a freedom and carefree approach to painting that I wish I could maintain at all times. They are most often painted on toned BFK printmaking paper sized with shellac. The shellac penetrates the paper, protecting it from the acidic linseed oil and creating a slick, smooth surface that allows my brush to dance across the paper without hesitation or encumbrance.
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Frosty Morning, Study 2014 Oil on paper 8 x 12
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Snow on Equinox, Study 2016 Oil on paper 8 x 10⅛
Winter Fields, Study 2013 Oil on paper on board 8 x 11⅛
Willowbrook Light, Study 2 2014 Oil on paper 9 x 11¼
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Flats Reflections, Study 2016 Oil on paper 9 x 12
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Cedar Sunset Study 2016 Oil on paper 6 x 12
March Evening Study Study for Listening for Woodcock 2016 Oil on paper 9 x 12
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Green Flow, Study Wood Duck 2013 Oil on paper 6¼ x 12
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Willet Study
Flooded Thicket Study
Study for Salt Marsh Spring 2013 Oil on paper 9 x 12
2013 Oil on paper 8¼ x 9¼
Spring Sedge Study 2014 Oil on paper 8 x 7⅞
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List of Works: Birdscapes A PLACE IN THE SUN (Green Heron), 2014, Oil/linen, 16 x 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
REFLECTIONS OF APRIL (Red-winged Blackbird), 2010, Oil/linen, 16 x 22. . . . 22
AFTERNOON FLIGHT (RED-TAILED HAWK), 2009, Oil/linen, 24 x 30. . . . . . . . . . . 8
REFUGE AMONG THE ROCKS (Black-bellied Plover, juvenile), 2013, Oil/linen, 12 x 16. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
AUTUMN ROOST (Eastern Screech-Owl), 2016, Oil/linen, 30 x 24. . . . . . . . . . . 42 BEAVER SWAMP HAZE (Great Egret), 2010, Oil/linen, 18 x 26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 COMPOSITION WITH TWO PLOVERS (Black-bellied Plover), 2015, Oil/linen/board, 11 x 12¾. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 DUSK ON THE FLATS (Short-eared Owl), 2017, Oil/linen, 18 x 27.5. . . . . . . . . . . 45 EVENING SHADOW (Snowy Egrets), 2016, Oil/linen, 16 x 20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 FRESH SNOW IN THE PINES (Bald Eagle), 2015, Oil/linen, 18 x 22. . . . . . . . . . . 13 GRAY DAY, OPEN WATER, 2014, Oil/linen, 16 x 19 *. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 HERON STUDY, BLACK CREEK (Green Heron), 2010, Oil/linen/board, 8 x 10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 HIGH IN THE PINE (Bald Eagle), 2015, Oil/linen, 20 x 24. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 LISTENING FOR WOODCOCK, 2016, Oil/canvas/board, 14¼ x 20½. . . . . . . . . . 44 LOW TIDE, WELLFLEET (Snowy Egret), 2011, Oil/linen, 13 x 24 *. . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 MAGPIE (Black-billed Magpie), 2015, Oil/linen, 12 x 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 MARCH GOLD (Common Raven), 2015, Oil/linen, 28 x 40 *. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 MARCH HILLSIDE, STUDY (Red-tailed Hawk), 2011, Oil/linen/board, 8 x 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
RIVER ICE, EVENING LIGHT (Common Merganser), 2011, Oil/linen, 13 x 24. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 RIVER REFLECTIONS, FIRE AND ICE (Common Merganser), 2011, Oil/linen, 24 x 44 *. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ROOSTING HERON, PORTRAIT STUDY (Great Blue Heron), 2017, Oil/linen/board, 12 x 14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 SALT MARSH PLOVERS (Black-bellied Plover), 2013, Oil/muslin/board, 12 x 18. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 SALT MARSH SPRING (Greater Yellowlegs), 2017, Oil/linen, 24 x 30 . . . . . . . . . 25 SALT MARSH STUDY, LOW TIDE, 2012, Oil/linen/board, 8 x 10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 SILVER LIGHT, GRAPEVILLE CREEK (Great Blue Heron), 2010, Oil/linen, 24 x 26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 SNOWY FIELDS (Red-tailed Hawk), 2009, Oil/linen, 16 x 27. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 SOFT ICE, 2015, Oil/linen, 24 x 34 *. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 SPRING SONG, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, 2006, Oil/linen, 14½ x 17. . . . . . . . . 23 STORM CLOUDS, NAUSET BEACH (Great Black-backed Gull), 2016, Oil/linen/board, 12¼ x 21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 SWAMP WILLLOW THICKET, 2014, Oil/linen/board, 10 x 16 *. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
MERGANSERS WITH MELTING ICE (Hooded Mergansers), 2017, Oil/linen, 26½ x 42½. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
SWAMP WILLOWS, 2015, Oil/linen, 18 x 26 *. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
ONE MORNING IN JUNE (Red-winged Blackbird), 2012, Oil/linen, 18 x 26. . . . 31
SWAMP WILLOWS, DEEP SNOW, 2015, Oil/linen, 18 x 26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
POND LILIES AND GALLINULE (Common Gallinule), 2012, Oil/linen, 24 x 30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
TIDEWATER EVENING (Greater Yellowlegs), 2014, Oil/linen, 18 x 26 *. . . . . . . . 29
QUIET MOMENT IN THE SHADE (Wood Duck), 2012, Oil/linen, 14 x 22. . . . . . . . 43 QUIET REFLECTIONS (Great Egret), 2016, Oil/linen, 20 x 24. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
WINTER REFUGE (Long-eared Owl), 2017, Oil/hemp, 26 x 24. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 WINTER THICKET, 2012, Oil/linen/board, 11 x 14 *. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
* Works not included in Birdscapes: Recent Oil Paintings by James Coe, Museum of American Bird Art, Canton, MA, January 29–May 14, 2017
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List of Works: Works on Paper CEDAR SUNSET STUDY, 2016, Oil/paper, 6 x 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
SNOW ON EQUINOX, STUDY, 2016, Oll/paper, 8 x 10⅛. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
FLATS REFLECTIONS, STUDY, 2016, Oil/paper, 9 x 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
SPRING SEDGE STUDY, 2014, Oil/paper, 8 x 7⅞ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
FLOODED THICKET, STUDY, 2013, Oil/paper, 8¼ x 9¼. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
WILLET STUDY, 2013, Oil/paper, 9 x 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
FROSTY MORNING, STUDY, 2014, Oil/paper, 8 x 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
WILLOWBROOK LIGHT, STUDY 2, 2014, Oil/paper, 9 x 11¼. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
GREEN FLOW, STUDY (Wood Duck), 2013, Oil/paper, 6¼ x 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
WINTER FIELDS, STUDY, 2013, Oil/paper, mounted on board, 8 x 11⅛. . . . . . . 49
MARCH EVENING STUDY, 2016, Oil/paper, 9 x 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
WINTER LIGHT ON THE SHORE, STUDY, 2015, Oil/paper, 8 x 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
James Coe:
James Coe has been a birder since he was twelve years old, when he spotted a migrant Canada Warbler outside his bedroom window in the suburban New York community where he grew up. He studied biology at Harvard University and painting at Parsons School of Design, and has spent more than thirty years melding art and science into a life as naturalist, field guide illustrator, landscape and wildlife artist. His pocket Golden Field Guide Eastern Birds, which he illustrated and authored, was acclaimed as a “tour-de-force” when it was published in 1994 (now out of print). Today Jim paints full-time — working both in plein air and in his studio, where he integrates birds into many of his oil landscapes. Jim and his family live in New York’s mid-Hudson Valley, but his art is shown in galleries and museums throughout America. His paintings are held in numerous museum collections, and have received many awards. In 2011 he was named Master Wildlife Artist by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, host of the annual Birds in Art.
About the Artist
For more information, visit www.jamescoe.com.
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Selected Awards
Collections
2015 1st place, Impressions of New England, The Bennington
Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT
2014 2nd Place, Laumeister Fine Art Competition, The Bennington
Bell Museum of Natural History, Minneapolis, MN
2012 Alden Bryan Medal, Bryan Memorial Gallery
First Reserve National Bank, Greenwich, CT
2011 Master Wildlife Artist, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Birds in Art
Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum, Oradell, NJ
2011 Award of Excellence, Society of Animal Artists
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
2010 Western Art Collector Editor’s Choice Award, Society of Animal Artists
Museum of American Bird Art, Canton, MA
2009 First Place, Laumeister Fine Art Competition, The Bennington
New York State Museum, Albany, NY
2009 Medal of Excellence, Artists for Conservation
Selsor Gallery, Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum, Chanute, KS
2008 Award of Excellence, Society of Animal Artists
Woodin & Company Store Fixtures, South Portland, ME
2006 Purchase Award, Society of Animal Artists, Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum 2004 Purchase Award, Focus on Nature, VIII, New York State Museum
Selected Bibliography, 2010–2016
Selected Solo & Two Person Exhibitions, 2010–2016
“Transcendent Landscapes,” Western Art Collector, July 2016, 108-109.
Gregory James Gallery, New Milford, CT: Transcendent Landscapes, 2016
“Painting Local,” Fine Art Today, May 28, 2015.
Cooper & Smith Gallery, Essex, CT: Natural Impressions, 2015
“Luminous Landscapes,” American Art Collector, September 2014, 140-141.
Mark Gruber Gallery, New Paltz, NY: Shared Passion: James Coe and Marlene Wiedenbaum, 2015
“Friends Travel to Paint the Desert”, PleinAir Magazine, March 2014, 69-73. “Avian Landscapes,” American Art Collector, November 2012, 167. “Finding Sanctuary,” American Art Collector, May 2012, 112-113. Quinn, Stephen C., “Birds en Plein Air,” Birds in Art 2011, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, 2011, 6-21. Wilkinson, Todd, “James Coe Is 2011 Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum Master Artist,” Wildlife Art Journal, September 2011. Doherty, Steve, “Wildlife in the Landscape,” PleinAir Magazine, Fall 2011, 57-61. “James Coe: A Painter’s Poetry,” Western Art Collector, January 2011, 108-111.
Albert Shahinian Fine Art, Rhinebeck, NY: The Luminous Landscape: James Coe – Paintings East and West, 2014. Gregory James Gallery, New Milford, CT: James Coe, Recent Work, 2012. Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, MA: Finding Sanctuary, 2012 Windham Fine Arts, Windham, NY: A Painter’s Poetry: James Coe, Solo, 2010 Gregory James Gallery, New Milford, CT: James Coe & Ralph Della-Volpe, 2010.
James Coe: Birdscapes Catalogue accompanying the exhibition Birdscapes: Recent Oil Paintings by James Coe at the Museum of American Bird Art, January 29–May 14, 2017 James Coe, a birder since the age of twelve, studied biology at Harvard University and painting at Parsons School of Design. He has spent more than thirty years melding art and science into a life as naturalist, field guide illustrator, landscape and wildlife artist. Today he paints full-time, working both in plein air and in his studio.
The Museum of American Bird Art at Mass Audubon (MABA) is a professional art museum within New England’s largest conservation organization, connecting people and nature through art. Its exhibitions feature art by internationally recognized artists inspired by nature.