James Woodard

Tacoma native of 42 years with a family history reaching back four generations. looking to genuinely represent myself, and the city of Tacoma in its history and its gritty nature in a proudly honest manner. After the onset of the pandemic I left a 20 year career path as a chef and switched to a more fitting career as a freelance artist. I have since been teaching myself how to work with oil paint and have been using that as the primary medium to build my professional portfolio. My technique follows the method of classical representational painting, but my style veers toward contemporary and unique subject matter. I fully immerse myself in my career no matter what I do and research all aspects of my craft when I'm not working. I have a deep and building respect for many styles in the creative painting field including modern, abstract, mural, graffiti and classical realism. I have an innate passion for history, philosophy, and socio-political issues, and look to integrate that all into my art to see myself in a position where i am making an impact in my community and within the creative realm. Although this decision was made later in my life, I have no regrets about the lessons in self motivation, efficiency, and overall work ethic that I've developed along the way.