Breehan James
Photo by Brad Ogbonna
Breehan James’s paintings portray her experiences exploring the wild places of the North and the people connected to them.
Rugged boreal forests, beautiful night skies reflected in lakes, deer hunters, and cottages in the woods populate her paintings and evoke a psychological state of being both lost and found in nature. “Out there I am interested in a total immersion into the wilderness and the practice of disconnecting with the habits and comforts of everyday life. When I get back to the studio I am searching for a way to portray these specific places and experiences while challenging and playing with conventions in landscape painting.” James draws influence from 19thcentury Nordic landscape painting, Gustave Courbet, as well as American and Canadian artist adventurers such as Winslow Homer, Paul Kane, and Tom Thompson.
Milwaukee, WI
Born 1979 Oshkosh, WI
2007 MFA Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT
2003 BFA Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA