Landscape Artist Jim Wilcox Biography Iconic Jackson Hole art since 1969
Career Highlights
- 1969: Becomes full-time artist
- 1969: Opens his first Jackson Hole fine art gallery, the Highlight Gallery
- 1973: Builds and opens Wilcox Gallery in current location on the highway between Jackson and Grand Teton National Park
- 1987: Wins the prestigious Prix de West Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for his painting: “Three Last Minutes of Glory,” a painting of the view out his studio window. (Below)
- 1994: Wins coveted $50,000 Arts for the Park grand prize with his painting of a beaver dam titled “Home of the Beaver”
- 1999: With high pre-order demand, launches Soltek Easel, a space-age artist easel designed for quick outdoor painting setup and easy carrying
- 2002: Wins Frederic Remington Award from Prix de West Show for best painting in show
- 2005: Opens Wilcox Gallery II, a second gallery location in downtown Jackson Hole
- 2007: Wins Frederic Remington Award from Prix de West Show for best painting in show a second time
- 2008: Releases his coffee table art book, “Canvassing the West: The Paintings of Jim Wilcox,” which goes on to sell thousands of copies
- 2013: Wins the Masters of the American West Purchase Award from the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, California
- 2017: Moves Wilcox Gallery II to current location across from the famous elk antler arches on the Town Square of Jackson Hole
Jim Wilcox Artist Bio
Jim Wilcox has been a full-time artist since 1969, and his illustrious career has been shaped by his surroundings in Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park.
When starting his professional life in the 1960s, Wilcox thought of pursuing several artistic careers: car designer, architect, or landscape painter.
But his summers as a college student working at Jackson Lake Lodge helped him realize that he could make an office out of the most beautiful places in the world as an artist.
Wilcox Gallery and career
Armed with a paintbrush and budding skill, Wilcox established himself in the then-sleepy town of Jackson Hole with little more than a desire to be a painter of the Tetons.
He opened the first variant of what would become the Wilcox Gallery (The Highlight Gallery) in a hole-in-the-wall location in downtown Jackson.
During the early years of their marriage, Wilcox and his wife Narda pulled out the breadboard as the table and sat on suitcases for “chairs” while holding a baby. He spent his days painting while manning his own gallery.
By 1973, Wilcox opened the current Wilcox Gallery on the highway between the town of Jackson and Grand Teton National Park.
He designed the building himself using drafting skills learned at university.
By the 1980s, Wilcox began to collect major Western art awards like the Prix de West Award and his renown spread as a result.
Now, Wilcox is one of the most recognized names for landscape art in the United States with nearly 40 major art awards under his belt.
His coffee table art book, “Canvassing the West” came out in 2008 and has sold thousands of copies.
He’s also been a successful workshop instructor for decades, though he finally retired from the Jackson Hole Art Academy in 2017, leaving his instructional DVDs as a teaching legacy.
In 2005, Wilcox expanded to a second gallery location in Jackson Hole to offer more display space for his talented roster of about 40 nationally known artists.
The gallery, which started in a quiet off-square space, moved through a series of improving locations until it reached its current space on the Town Square just east of Jackson Hole’s highly photographed elk antler arches.
His galleries draw art collectors from all over the world.
Soltek Easel
As a plein-air painter, Jim Wilcox wanted an easel that fit his lifestyle and desire to paint on location. Not being able to find one, he leaned back on his architecture and car design background to design the easel he wanted.
Between 1991 and 1999, Jim designed, manufactured, and released the Soltek Easel with enough pre-orders to pay for the eight-year process.
He relied on lightweight, sturdy space-age materials to create a premium carry-friendly easel lighter than anything as full-featured on the market while still holding all an artist needs to paint on location — or in the studio.
His patented friction-locking mechanisms allow an artist to extend legs, painting arms, and more to the desired locations without needing to tighten wingnuts or otherwise fiddling with the easel.
He’s sold thousands of easels to date, and works consistently to improve his designs.
Family
Beyond being a renowned artist, an appreciated industrial designer, and the architect of his own gallery, Wilcox has seven children (six boys and a girl) with his wife Narda.
Two of his sons run Wilcox Gallery and Wilcox Gallery II. Eric Wilcox, the son running Wilcox Gallery II, is a wildlife sculptor as well.
One of his sons runs Soltek Easel. The rest of his children have careers as varied as writing and marketing to physical therapy.