Grandparent Profile: Jim Caldwell

His interest and talent for art showed up early, and he credits his mother for always supporting his artistic interests. She noticed his artistic abilities early on and encouraged him to take art lessons starting in grade school. 

Jim is a fan of small schools, having spent his formative high school years at Cate School, a college preparatory boarding school near Santa Barbara. He says that attending Cate was a turning point in his life. He describes it as a “very small, incredibly great school. I had a wonderful art teacher there. I won the senior art prize, and so I really got into drawing.”

Although his parents did not complete college, they were very supportive of his choices. “I would say I forged my own way in academics. I loved being a student, I was good at it, and I always did well in school.” It was during his time in high school that he was encouraged to go into architecture. Jim continued on to earn his undergraduate degree from Williams College in Art, then studied printing and etching in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts, and completed his M.A. in Architecture at Yale. 

Jim continued on to build a career in residential architecture and enjoys continuing to paint. He never anticipated being able to support himself and his family as an artist. “I thought that architecture was it. I love architecture and painting has been an avocation for most of my life.” 

Jim has enjoyed supporting Burke’s, most recently creating a large mural for display in the campus pavilion. “I briefly fantasized about painting on the wall itself. Then I realized that this would have me down on my knees in freezing cold weather for many days. It’s so close to the ground that an original piece of art would be very vulnerable to rain and other weather.” He has experience painting similar-sized works, but had to get creative due to the location. In the end, the original painting was reproduced on vinyl, so that the original could be kept safe, with the vinyl  reproduction on display outside the Front Office. 

“I feel like Burke’s is very receptive to volunteer contributions. I am particularly pleased to be able to contribute my skills as an artist. I think any grandparent wanting to contribute should consider what they could share with the school. Of course financial contributions are important, but there are plenty of other ways to contribute.”

Jim has two granddaughters attending Burke’s and has taught an art class twice in his older grandaughter's class. From his own experience at Cate School, he knows how important it is to be exposed to a variety of creative subjects and to grow up in a supportive academic community. “I think Burke’s is a wonderful school. I’m so impressed and so pleased that my granddaughters are here.”  

Although he spends the majority of his working time as a practicing architect, Jim is very active in the art community. He taught Continuing Education at Stanford for about 15 years, and has given over 90 art talks, covering topics from Monet and Van Gogh, to Mary Cassat and Leonardo Da Vinci. He has also had over 50 one-man shows, and his paintings are represented in almost 500 collections world-wide. His suggestion_ for youngsters interested in art is to focus on drawing skills, particularly in the K-12 years. He also recommends experimenting in various media, and taking art classes. 

Jim recently published his second volume of paintings, The Golden Coast, Landscapes at the Edge of the Continent.