Isaacs Art Center

Jim Wilcox

Jim Wilcox (born 1941)



His home, studio, and the Wilcox Gallery are across the highway from a national elk refuge about a mile north of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. His favorite painting subject is the Teton Mountain Range of which he paints thousands of plein air landscapes, but he also travels widely to paint landscapes, including ocean scenes of Hawaii. 



He studied at Brigham Young University and took two years off to serve as a missionary for the Mormon Church. Following graduation, he taught art at a high school near Seattle, Washington and then moved to Jackson to become a full-time artist. Wilcox is praised for his ability to capture abstract design, light and mood in his paintings. The artist's love of nature and the scene captures the attention of the viewer.



In 1987, he won the Prix de West Award at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, and in 1994, won the coveted $50,000 Grand Prize in the "Arts for the Parks" contest with his beaver pond painting, "Home of the Beaver." Wilcox continues to win awards and praise from critics and collectors. In 2003 Jim Wilcox was named the featured artist for the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival.



Source: Wildlife Art, January/February 2004