Tom and Mary James / Raymond James Financial Art Collection Loans Native American Paintings to Eckerd Library

As part of the Spring 2009 Presidential Events Series, Eckerd College will host an exhibition of art on loan for the first time from the Tom and Mary James / Raymond James Financial Art Collection. Native American Images: Paintings from the Tom and Mary James/Raymond James Financial Art Collection will be on display from February 7 to May 1, 2009, in the Library at Eckerd College. Public viewing hours are Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

More than 35 works will represent artists who are Native American and artists who depict Native American images: Tony Abeyta, Roy Andersen, Joe Beeler, Shonto Begay, Earl Biss, Dan Bodelson, Don Crowley, Thomas P. Darro, Darren Vigil Gray, Bruce Greene, Mike Larsen, Z. S. Liang, David Mann, Guy Manning, Buck McCain, Dan Namingha, Stan Natchez, Paul Pletka, Tom Saubert, Gary Schildt, Frank Schively, Ray Swanson, Robert Taylor, Poteet Victory, Veloy Vigil, and David Yorke.

About the Native American Images Exhibit at Eckerd College
Paintings by Native American Artists
Full of powerful symbolism and a desire to combine Native culture with today’s world, these Native American artists are translating their stories and symbols in a contemporary style all their own. The urgency to capture parts of their past is certainly felt, and in addition to influence by other Native American artists such as T.C. Cannon and Fritz Scholder, there is stylistic influence by artists such as Van Gogh, J.M.W. Turner, Andy Warhol, and Jackson Pollack.

Native American Subject Matter
Fascination with Native cultures and peoples, documenting historical accuracy, and storytelling drive these artists to depict their images. From the Florida Seminoles to the Arizona Hopi, a variety of tribes are represented by more than a dozen artists. Many of the paintings have specific stories, and some of the artists even attend present-day reenactments for information and inspiration. These representational paintings are just a glimpse into some Native cultures.

About the Tom and Mary James/Raymond James Financial Art Collection
The Tom and Mary James/Raymond James Financial Art Collection consists of more than 1,800 works of art, including paintings, sculptures, graphics, drawings, mixed media, and prints. The collection, more than 95% of which is owned by Tom and Mary James, is one of Florida's largest private art collections.

Displayed at Raymond James Financial's international headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida, the collection is exhibited throughout the 900,000-square-foot complex on each of 30 floors. Tom James selects each acquisition himself, through visits to galleries, auctions, other art collectors, and photographs sent to him by galleries and individual artists. Though some of the artists in the collection have since passed away, he believes in supporting living artists and helping them flourish.

While the collection, which began in the 1950s, initially featured mostly American - and predominantly Floridian - artists, Mr. James has since acquired pieces by Alexander Calder, Salvador Dalí, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Miró, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, and Andy Warhol, among others. In the mid 1980s, while on trips to Colorado and New Mexico, James began collecting the Western and Southwestern art, which currently makes up more than 50% of the collection.

Tom and Mary James and Raymond James Financial have a long history of supporting the arts. Tom James has been president of the Dalí Museum Board of Trustees since 1994, and Raymond James has been the title sponsor of the Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts in Tampa, Florida, for the past 11 years. The company has also supported many other arts organizations and festivals around the Tampa Bay area, and was recognized in October 2008 with a Business in the Arts award from the Tampa Bay Business Committee for the Arts.

Mr. and Mrs. James have been supporters of Eckerd College for over two decades. Tom James served on the College's Board of Trustees from 1985 to 1991. In 1983, he established the Robert A. James Memorial Endowed Scholarship, one of the largest endowed scholarships at Eckerd College. Three years later, Raymond James Financial established the Raymond James and Associates Annual Scholarship for students with an interest in business. In 2006, Tom and Mary James gave a $1 million gift to endow the James Professorship in Finance.

Visual Arts at Eckerd College
Through the assistance of Marshall Rousseau, Director of Community Collaboration in the Arts for Eckerd College and former Executive Director of the Salvador Dalí Museum, The Armacost Library has displayed various collections from the Tampa Bay area's finest museums, including the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Salvador Dalí Museum.

Arthur Skinner, Eckerd Professor of Visual Art and Chair of the Creative Arts Collegium, coordinates Library exhibits that extend to Eckerd's Elliott Gallery and feature the works of Eckerd faculty, students and graduates from Eckerd's past and present. In November 2008, an invitational exhibit of recent works by more than 100 Florida Presbyterian College / Eckerd College Visual Arts alumni celebrated the College's 50th anniversary of its founding.

Photo: Tony Abeyta, Untitled, Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches