JIM
HALLENBECK

JIM HALLENBECK is from Catskill, NY and obtained a BS in Art Education from Florida International University of Miami in December 1979. With a plan to be an art teacher and then an artist, Jim was hired by IBM and the plan was put on hold. He retired from IBM as a Vice President in September 2014 and worked at Lenovo through January 2015. Through the years Jim painted as time allowed. Now retired, he is pursuing his lifelong dream of being an artist. Jim is primarily an oil painter but has also begun using soft pastels at the beginning of 2020. Jim taught art (K – 5th grade and adult classes) part-time at Champion Learning Academy in Morrisville, NC. Jim has taken workshops from nationally recognized artists such as Nicole Kennedy, Dan Beck, Dawn Whitelaw, Derek Penix, and seven with Albert Handell (his mentor, teacher, and friend). Prior to becoming a studio artist at Artspace, Jim was a studio artist of 311 Gallery in Raleigh. He is also a contributing artist of Bel Air Art Center in Rocky Mount, NC and a contributing artist of the Mattie King Davis Gallery in Beaufort, NC. In this short period, Jim has been juried into over 30 local and national exhibitions, winning numerous awards. Of note, Jim has been juried into the 2018 American Impressionists Society’s national exhibition; the 92nd American Artists Professional League’s Grand National Exhibition, 2020 and was awarded the Claude Parsons Memorial Award in pastels; the 105th Allied Artists of America exhibition, 2019; the National Oil + Acrylic Painters Society’s 2018 Spring online international exhibition; the NOAPS 2019 fall online international exhibition; and the Oil Painters of America 2020 Salon Show.

Jim is an associate member of the American Impressionist Society, the Oil Painters of America, the Pastel Society of America, and an Elected associate member of the American Artists Professional League. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the Fine Arts League of Cary, NC.

Jim shares: “My art has largely been of landscapes, cityscapes, and, at times, the people captured in these scenes. My approach in painting is to represent each subject in my unique colorful narrative style. I am not trying to just impart information but also construct and communicate a story complete with characters, elements, and settings. In turn, I hope to say something to the viewer, to trigger an emotion, or to spark a memory that resonates on a very unique personal level.”