January 5, 2008 - February 14, 2008
One of the Jerome Artist Cooperative Gallery’s founding members, the well-respected and much admired Jim Rome, will be the first featured artist of the New Year. Rome , who first arrived in Jerome in 1968 and became a permanent resident in 1970, works in a variety of classical styles, including painting, sculpture and lithography. His skill is overwhelming to behold, no matter his media, and grabs hold of the viewer with his brilliance.
Born in Minnesota , Rome moved to Montana with his family as a boy, his father being a “ Montana cowboy who worked the mines in Butte ”. Later on his dad took up a lumberjack gig and moved the family to the Washington-Oregon coast, settling inland in Tillamook, and later Portland . Rome started his professional art career “supposedly in 1963, in L.A. ” where he worked for Aaron Brothers who relocated him to Phoenix in ’65. Soon afterwards he quit his day job and began painting full-time. His subject matter at the time was desert scenery and he ventured around the Valley of the Sun, gradually extending his forays farther north. “I did a lot of rustic stuff and Jerome fit right in”. Within a few years he moved his family up to an old house in the “ Ghost City ”. He’s been a resident of Jerome ever since. Rome was one of the cooperative’s founding members when it opened in 1996, but due to his extensive and respected art career he also has works in galleries and collections worldwide.
His current show will feature new art and also “select” works, favorites to be revisited. The opening will take place on Saturday January 5th from 5:30-8:30pm, coinciding with Jerome’s ARTwalk, and will feature live music, refreshments, plus a chance to chat with the legend himself, Jim Rome. The show will run through Valentine’s Day, February 14th.
