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May/June 2004
ArtsAlive Magazine
James Picard: Very Much Alive
Geoff Hoile
If you were sitting at a Lonsdale café drinking a tall non-fat, extra hot, vanilla latte and Henri Matisse walked by, would you recognize him?
How about Vincent Van Gogh? Pablo Picasso? Rembrandt?
Okay, how about James Picard?
The chances of you seeing the first four are slim; they’re all dead. But James Picard, on the other hand, is very much alive and extremely active on the North Shore.
Born in 1964 in Toronto, James’ passion for art began early. As a child he often stayed up all night painting under his bedcovers by flashlight. He developed his diverse skills in sculpting, drawing, oils, watercolour and acrylics during his years at Sheridan College and the Ontario College of Art. Between 1987 and 2002 he received several international awards, and in 1988 moved to Vancouver, where he now lives with his two children.
Although when he first arrived in the city Picard felt there was a lot of artistic energy in Vancouver, he thought the North Shore had more artists, and the communities were “more artistically lined up,” more open to artists. Picard says, “There was a lot of talent here, but there was a need for more teachers who actually had a background in the art they were teaching.” He soon began sharing his talent and expertise, teaching kids at the Seymour Art Gallery, running workshops and tours. In 1999 he established and taught the first class in sculpture for visually impaired students in British Columbia. He currently runs workshops through the North Shore Continuing Education program, The North Shore Neighbourhood House, and seminars in sculpting as well as donating countless hours of volunteer teaching for the Children’s Hospital and inner city children.
The man seldom sleeps, driven by a passion for change in the way people look at art. The media has described Picard as intense, passionate, prolific, boisterous, rollicking and highly sensitive. He brings all of this to the classroom. He can be at his funniest one moment, then instantly calm and serious explaining a fine point in a student’s work. He is a born teacher; he knows art, he likes people, he respects the problems of his students, and possibly most important he cares about each member in his class. He brings freshness to art. But it’s not just about art; he is able to guide aspiring artists in setting up a portfolio, or exhibiting their work.
International recognition of Picard’s talents seems as diverse as the art itself. A Swiss clock-maker was so impressed with a commission Picard painted that he named a watch after him. Last year his portrait of Jack Nicholson was auctioned for charity in Los Angeles. A prominent Las Vegas hotel displays his work in their VIP lounge. In addition to creating paintings for movie sets, Picard’s work is in demand with Hollywood actors and filmmakers.
There are times when we have great artists in our midst, and the public in general doesn’t recognize them on sight, or in some cases has been slow to realize the full measure of that greatness. James Picard’s paintings hang in the very exclusive RM Fine Art Gallery in London along with works by Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse, David Hockney and Pablo Picasso. He has been warmly received, and publicly recognized in New York both for his art and his work teaching art to children and recently returned from exhibiting with RM Fine Art in Paris and London. But aside from the Werx gallery in Vancouver, and private collections, Picard’s work is rarely seen locally. You can however, get a good overview of the man and his art by clicking on www.jamespicard.com.
We are privileged to have here on the North Shore an internationally acclaimed artist dedicated to sharing his talent with the community in which he lives. The temptation to move to one of the world’s art centres must be extremely compelling. It is our good fortune that, so far at least, James Picard has resisted that temptation.