About the Artist

  Awards, Publications, Affiliations
  How we Work - The Process
  Return to About Us


OWNER'S RESUME - (this whole site is basically a resume!)

It is often difficult for artists to separate their personal and professional lives so I've included a little of both.

THE EARLY YEARS

' 46 - born in Jackson, TN.

' 48 - hit by a car when I was 2 1/2 yr.. old while crossing the street on my tricycle (acted a little crazy ever since !)

' 50 - fell out of a moving car - THAT really made my mother mad ! lived two blocks from Carl Perkins (blue suede shoes!) climbed every tree in our neighborhood

JIMMY GROWS UP

' 57 - kissed by certain particular girl (that I had a big crush on) just before she became Elvis's girl friend. (I was 11 at the time)

' 60 - became an Eagle scout

' 63-64 - head of the kitchen at scout camp - responsible for feeding 200-250 campers, 3 meals a day for two summers (I did have some help)

' 64 - graduated from Jackson High School (I'm sure you've probably heard of the JHS Golden Bears?)

' 66 - saved a kid from drowning in the Moose Lodge swimming pool while serving as a YMCA Day Camp counselor (some people say he would never have been in that situation if I had been more attentive as a life guard. Hey! He told me he could swim and I was only getting paid $ 35/wk.! anyway) - had about 15 other jobs during junior and high school years (delivered the Jackson Sun, worked at a florist, worked at several clothing stores, worked at Camp Mack Morris (Boy Scouts) for 6 summers, YMCA counselor, etc.

' 66 - worked at a creosote plant for 2 days! - it probably later became an EPA Superfund site - I got out of there!

' 68 - graduated from Lambuth College (a small liberal arts college), Jackson TN. - while in college I worked in the lab of The Jackson-Madison General County Hospital (TN) - played in a rock and roll band (when it was still rock and roll) - was in a fraternity (KA) - and had several other part-time jobs. I didn't get accepted to medical school (something about grades!) but I can often guess the diagnosis of most every patient on "E.R." before the doctors do - applied to Air Force to be a pilot (flunked the physical, something about being knocked unconscious when I was a kid - getting hit by a car does that to you)

BEGINNING OF JIMMY'S FIRST LIFE

' 68-69 taught 9th grade General Science in Cairo, Georgia, home of the Cairo (pronounced KARO) Syrupmakers . . . really! In Cairo they make pickles in the summer, peanut butter in the fall.

' 69 - moved to Memphis, started graduate school - worked at the Old Spice plant.

' 69 - taught Biology/Chemistry in Memphis Public Schools - took Navy test to be a pilot - passed it (guess I got healthier ! - put on waiting list to go to Pensacola - guess I'm still on the list !)

' 70 - married Mary Love Winn (a French teacher now retired and working at the studio), started doing stained glass as a hobby (checked a book out of the Memphis Public Library)

' 71 - was a chemist at an electroplating plant (Now that's another story!)

' 71-73 - taught science and math at Ripley (TN) High School, also taught photography and was year book advisor (on my staff was Miles O'Keefe who later played Tarzan in a movie with Bo Derek), filled in for various doctors as a part time medical technician

' 73-80 - taught science, biology, anatomy & physiology, etc. in various Orange County (FL) schools

' 74 - did my first commercial stained glass project - an Earth Shoe store sign (remember them?) - they went out of business a couple of months later (but don't think the stained glass was the reason)

' 76 - cut off part of my finger in a shopping cart (now called "chopping cart") accident at a Publix Grocery (let's see 1976 minus 1946 made me 30 yrs. old at the time) You should warn your kids that riding on the back of those things can be hazardous! (if they can't figure it out on their own) It was a little humbling having to explain to my high school students how the accident happened.

BEGINNING OF JIMMY'S SECOND LIFE

' 80 - began a new life as stained glass artist ! (difficult with part of a finger
        missing !)

' 81 - opened J. Piercey Studios, Inc. - immediately got my first church
        commission

' 81 - studied design with Ludwig Schaffrath - a new awakening!

' 82 - studied design with Ludwig Schaffrath - a reawakening!

' 83 - made my first trip to Europe

' 84 - climbed Gannett Peak, highest mountain in Wyoming

' 86 - started designing and executing stone mosaics

' 86 - hiked the Inca Trail

' 86 - summited Mt. Popocatepetl (Mexico)

' 87 - summited Mt. Ranier

' 87 - studied with Johannes Schreiter

' 88 - assisted Prof. Schaffrath in a mosaic seminar at Pilchuck Glass School, Seattle, WA

' 88 - became an Orlando Magic Fan

' 92 - grew a pony-tail (thought it was cool)

' 94 - started attempting to speak Italian

' 95 - started studying Italian

' 96 - studied with Italian mosaicist, (in Italy!)

' 97 - cut off the pony tail (was no longer cool)

' 99 - attended my first professional baseball game (Red Sox vs. Orioles) at
        Fenway Park - Sox lost

' 01 - became Duncan's father (Duncan is a Spaniel/Lab mix)

Fortunately, I have finally left most of my clumsy years behind, with a few notable exceptions, (except for the 5 stitches I had to get recently - it's hard to believe that the bamboo in my back yard is so sharp!)

Hobbies: golf, mountaineering and rock climbing, gardening, cooking, fishing, playing my saxophone, reading, watching TV.

Favorite color: green

Favorite food: too many to list but most often something I make in my new kitchen - of course being from Tennessee, I am especially fond of real tomatoes, strawberries, and peaches; real barbecue, and real country ham.

Favorite road food: Waffle House - and I can't drive without a Diet Pepsi in my hand.

Favorite car: My old ' 84 Toyota LandCruiser (265,000 mi.)

I wish I . . . .

had not stopped taking my piano lessons

had made better grades in high school ( I flunked French in high school and then married a French teacher)

had kept on taking my flying lessons (it got too expensive but I could land a plane if I had to)

had made better grades in college

could understand what THE CALCULUS is all about

could understand how space is curved

could understand two books in particular (Focault's Pendulum and Remembrance of Things Past)

could play 18 holes of golf with only one golf ball

I wish I had not . . . . goofed off in school (but it WAS a liberal arts college during the '60s)

I wish I didn't . . . bite my finger nails, have to wear reading glasses, watch so much TV.

Physical traits -  6'3", 185 lbs. (used to be at least!), blue eyes, dirty blonde hair, several distinguishing scars and marks (if you read the above history, you will understand why) no tattoos or pierced body parts -

Favorite music/musicians - some classical, some rock and roll, some blues, a little jazz, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Alanis Morisset, Andrea Bocelli and some of the old dead Italian tenors (I'm now more open to listening to opera), Ray Charles, Van Morrison

Things I do like - TV (A&E, Discovery, PBS, Law and Order, The West Wing, E.R., Nova), Naval Museum at Pensacola, FL, ITALY and most things Italian, Seattle and rainy weather.

Favorite movies - Cinema Paradiso, Il Postino, The Man Who Would Be King, Pink Panther Movies, anything with Gene Hackman, Sean Connery, Michael Cain, Susan Sarandon

Things I would like to do: produce a series of shows for PBS entitled "A Field Trip with Jim". Each week we would visit a studio, factory, etc. We'd show kids how things (pencils to Tootsie pops) are made. Field trips were some of the most formative events of my early school years, they made me inquisitive... still am.

     From the above you will see that I, as dedicated to my profession as I am, do not take myself too seriously. My life itself has been a mosaic of sorts. I've had many diverse educational, professional and personal experiences - really a pretty good background - guess the liberal arts college was of value after all (thanks, Lambuth). I'll probably keep doing my work as long as I can.

     Every meeting, every job is a new adventure and is approached with the same enthusiasm. It's a wasted day if I don't learn something new. I guess my basic philosophy can be summed up in a quote from one of my best buddies "It ain't worth doing if you can't have fun doing it". Life is just too short.

     I am grateful to have a dependable and competent staff. We all spend too much time in the studio creating the things we create for us not to enjoy doing it. Not that I or my staff are accident prone, but I doubt there's one of our stained glass windows anywhere out there that doesn't have a little of our blood on it. (Hey we're talking drops here!) But, we are rewarded every time we finish an installation, and then again when we happen to revisit an old site.

     I occasionally visit the site of one of my first large stained glass commissions and still just sit in awe - thinking, "Man, I did that !" That window, as with all of our work, has had an effect on literally thousands of people who have viewed it - if only for a short time their day was made a little more interesting or a little more peaceful. We are fortunate as well as grateful to be able to make a living doing what we do - and yeah, we're having fun!

     Thanks for visiting our site.

Sincerely,

James T. Piercey, Pres.
J. PIERCEY STUDIOS, INC.

top >>  


Copyright © J. Piercey Studios, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hosting and Design by CompBiz, Inc.

232qwa