My City March 2023

MYARTS

JIM AMES Artist

BY CHERYL DENNISON PHOTOS PROVIDED BY JIM AMES

"Water color is a swim in the metaphysics of life ... a mirror of one's own character. Let it be unpredictable and colorful.” ~Anonymous

commercial artist at Curtis Print ing while living at the YMCA. He married his late wife, Diane, in 1962 and the couple moved to Brown City, MI where he was offered a job designing motor home interiors. They stayed there for a year and moved back to Flint, where he met many people involved in the arts community. He was then offered a designer/ illustrator job in Saginaw and commuted to work there for five years. "It was the biggest art stu dio at the time," he notes. In 1972, Ames founded his graphic arts studio, Jim Ames Studio, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022. Ames decided he wanted to work with watercolor and it took him five years, but he became a member of

T o Jim Ames of Flint, color is everything. At 86, the graphic designer, illustrator, fine art painter and watercolor artist teaches watercolor and acrylic painting at the Flint Institute of Arts. He has given lectures on color at many leading U.S. art schools and with the help of son-in-law Ed Chiles, also does the layout and design for two General Motors publications. His proudest achievement, how ever, is the book he authored and published in the ‘ 90s, Color Theory Made Easy , which has sold 24,000 copies worldwide. The book explains

how to mix colors using 15 artist paint colors in relation to the Ames Colorwheel he created. "The book discusses watercolors, color theory, and art in general," he says. Born and raised in Algonac, MI Ames was drafted into the Army when he was 22 years old. He had a background in art having worked as an apprentice in Detroit and did artwork while in the Army. "I always wanted to succeed as a commercial artist," he remembers. The young artist came to Flint in 1961 and worked as a

60 30

MYCITYMAG.COM