Daily Inspiration: Meet Payton James

Today we’d like to introduce you to Payton James. 

Hi Payton, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved drawing and painting. I grew up in a fairly rural area in North Carolina, and there wasn’t much of an emphasis on the arts in schools or in the community. Luckily, my mom was an art teacher (now retired), and my (paternal) grandfather was an artist, so art was a part of my life and in my genes. In high school, though there was a limited selection of visual art classes, I took all of them that were offered, and I knew I wanted to continue studying art in college. I went to the University of North Carolina at Asheville and received my BFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting and minored in Business Management in hopes to use the business skills I gained from my minor to help learn the ins and outs of entrepreneurship and marketing to help promote and build my art business. After college, I moved to Ann Arbor and began teaching local classes and private lessons while still maintaining my own studio practice, selling and exhibiting my work. Currently, I’m still teaching some classes and private lessons, but I’ve dialed back some of those commitments to be able to carve out more time to dedicate towards making and selling my own artwork. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being a full-time working artist has definitely been a struggle at times. It took some time to build up a full schedule with lots of networking and word-of-mouth opportunities that just take time to discover. An ongoing struggle of mine is that it can be a challenge to prioritize studio time and create a consistent schedule and routine. With students’ availability for private lessons constantly changing and local classes being offered at various different times, I often crave structure that just isn’t there on a day-to-day basis. The pandemic also, like for many, definitely caused (and is still causing) quite some roadblocks. Since teaching classes (in-person) was a big part of my job, those were cancelled and/or switched to being offered virtually, and for the most part, has been difficult to get back up and running due to low enrollment. Understandably so, it seems many people have yet to feel fully comfortable taking in-person classes again (or perhaps just got out of the routine of doing so), but with so many other obligations transitioning to virtual, many people are exhausted from screen time so a virtual class also isn’t a great fit for everyone. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
In my artwork, I examine the concept of liminality, a transitional moment in one’s life, using mixed media and texture in my paintings. I explore these liminal spaces by painting abstract, vast expanses, layering acrylics and/or oils as well as other materials over a textured ground, reminiscent of a landscape that is inviting and intriguing yet somehow inaccessible. These works of art emphasize places and moments that are commonly overlooked, providing the viewer with a chance to experience the human emotions that come from these liminal space moments and to observe and reflect on their own life-changing transitions, those vital times in which we were neither here nor there. 

My artwork has been exhibited locally and nationally, receiving several awards of distinction. Recently, I was invited to be a part of ArtPrize 2022 in Grand Rapids, MI, with my painting, “Rhythms of Fall.” 

Contact Info:

• Website: Paytonfineart.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/Payton.fineart
• Facebook: Facebook.com/Paytonfineart