James Wilson
Published Saturday June 6th, 2009
Award-winning photographer keeps his iPod stocked with a wide range of artists including Aimee Mann, Wintersleep, Yo-Yo Ma and Handel
q Age?
a Right now "¦ I feel ageless.
q Provenance?
a I was born in Saint John, studied photography in New York and then returned to work in my father's photography business while carrying on a parallel career as an artist working in the medium of photography. I now have reached a point where working as a professional artist is my main activity and source of income. I moved to rural Hampton and built a special natural light studio onto my home. Living near nature has given me peace and much inspiration.
q Why photography?
a Well, my father, Lew Wilson, was a photographer and I was exposed to photography at a very early age.
q What was your breakthrough moment?
a I can't think of any particular moment, but when I was 17, I got a book called Canada Year of the Land. It was a large-format book of strong landscape photographs - many taken by Freeman Patterson. It affected me deeply and I realized then that photography is an exciting art form.
q What would you be if you weren't a photographer?
a I would still be an artist, but working in another medium - film/video, paint or sculpture, I suppose.
q Your current obsession?
a Getting back to my long-term project of taking black-and-white portraits of New Brunswick people from all walks of life. I feel it is an important documentation of who we are as a people at this time in history.
q What are you working on next?
a I am completing a new body of work for an exhibition this fall. It is an exploration of the human form in motion - a series of choreographed movements documented with a still camera. The results are very dream-like, painterly, emotional and very human.
q What place on earth inspires you?
a The Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica. This place is a high-altitude rainforest that is almost always in the clouds. Because of this, it is misty, lush and teeming with flora and fauna. It's like walking through a grandiose green cathedral. It's a great place to contemplate and make photographs. The trees are huge and have so much plant life on them that each one is a garden in itself. These giants energize me and they have a meditative, healing effect.
q What place in New Brunswick inspires you?
a The Hampton marsh. I am so familiar with this place because I live on its edge. This large freshwater marsh is so beautiful and changes drastically with the seasons. It is a constant inspiration for a landscape photographer like myself.
q Secret indulgence?
a It's a secret.
q Your favourite hero of fiction?
a Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. I read the book Siddhartha when I was in my 20s. I like anti-heroes best! Siddhartha is a man who is dragged through life like so many of us by our desires but then comes to blend with the world by finding his answers in the rhythms of nature.
q What is your greatest extravagance?
a Buying art.
q What is your greatest fear?
a Being at sea in a bad storm in any boat - a primal fear I guess.
q Greatest joy?
a Just being an artist and being able to work and live in this great part of Canada.
q Your favourite painting/or photograph on Earth?
a It's a portrait of Truman Capote by my favourite photographer, Irving Penn.
q Favourite painting by a New Brunswick artist?
a I think it has to be the painting by Fred Ross called The Lovers, which is now in the National Gallery in Ottawa. I first saw it when it came to my studio to be photographed 16 years ago. I have seen it twice since in Ottawa.
q What are you reading?
a The Power of Art by Simon Schama and A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright. I just finished Silver Salts by Mark Blagrave, which was interesting because the story takes place in Saint John in early 1900s with many familiar references for anyone who has lived in this city. Life of Pi by Yann Martel was my favourite novel in the last five years.
q What's on your iPod?
a Ali Farka, Aimee Mann, B.B. King, Beatles, Beethoven, Billy Bragg, Bob Dylan, Bon Iver, Cassandra Wilson, Chet Baker, Citizen Cope, Coldplay, Diana Krall, Glenn Gould, Edith Piaf, Elliott Smith, Feist, Fiona Apple, Hot Toddy, J.J.Cale, J.S. Bach, James Brown, Jenn Grant, Coco Love Alcorn, Joni Mitchell, John Lennon, Lucinda Williams, Moskitoo, Neil Young, Talking Heads, Tom Waits, U2, Van Morrison, Patrick Watson, Wintersleep, Yo-Yo Ma, Of Montreal, Vivaldi, Handel and much more to satisfy my love for music.
q What talent would you like to have?
a To be able to write well.
q What is the greatest public misconception about
photography?
a When I was young, photography wasn't respected as an art form. Now it is, and all the best galleries have photography in their mix. It is a great time to be an artist working in this medium.
q Your most treasured possession?
a It is a sculpture called Hope by artist Sister Marie Hélène Allain. It is a stone bird nest in a tree with a large golden bronze egg. When you touch it, it gives you goosebumps.
q What is your motto?
a Just do your work, keep raising the bar, and everything else will come.
q How would you like to die?
a I guess I would like to die in the saddle doing photography at age 100.
q What is your favourite art museum?
a The Whitney Gallery in New York City. It is mainly an American contemporary art gallery, mid-sized and always exciting, with fresh interesting work in every medium.
Editor's note: James Wilson's studio will be open for visitors as part of the Kings County Studio Tour on June 13 and 14. For more information including map and directions visit www.studiotour-nb.com.
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
