An interview with long-time Art on the Meadow Instructor James Brandess.
Tell us about yourself. Where did you grow up, and how did you come to Saugatuck?
I came to Saugatuck from Chicago, Illinois. I was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago. One day in late winter, I noticed on a bulletin board in the hallway of SAIC an ad for a summer maintenance position at a place called Ox-Bow in Saugatuck, Michigan. In return for three credits of independent study, we got room/board and a stipend.
Describe your own art practice.
I am a painter. I work in oil paint and in watercolor. I often work from observation. Painting the landscape is a big part of my practice. When I was a student in Chicago, I often went into the environs of Chicago and painted the urban landscape. However, being at Ox-Bow provided the opportunity to work in a more rural environment. Ox-Bow was a place where I was able to leave my easel and my tables all set up. I was able to return to a painting day after day. At Ox-Bow, the changing light dictates the terms of the painting more so than the chaotic environment of a big city.
James Brandess, An Autumn Bouquet, 2022, Oil on Canvas, 34 x 30 inches
When and how did you first come to know Ox-Bow?
My first summer at Ox-Bow was 1987. I applied for the job that was listed in a flyer on the bulletin board outside what was then the second-floor figure-painting studio at the Columbus Drive Building at SAIC. E. W. Ross, who had just stepped into his role of administering Ox-Bow, hired me. Two board members brought me up to Ox-Bow before the season started and dropped me right in the middle of the empty campus. I spent summers at Ox-Bow until 1994, when I started my studio in downtown Saugatuck.
How long have you taught workshops for our Art on the Meadow program, and what keeps bringing you back?
I taught my first classes at Ox-Bow in 1989. One class, which I started, was called “Art for Kids.” It cost five dollars. It ran from 10 till noon on Saturday mornings for kids ages six through 12. To this day, I remain friends with some of those families. Some of the kids now have kids. Also, through Ox-Bow, I started to teach older students. There wasn’t the Art in the Meadow as we know it today. Through outreach with Saugatuck, we taught classes in the gazebo in downtown Saugatuck, and also at places like Upward Bound at Hope College.
What keeps bringing me back is that teaching at Ox-Bow is another way to be part of the true spirit of the place.
James Brandess, Texas Bluebonnets, 2022, Oil on Canvas, 9 x 6 inches
You were a participant in an Art on the Meadow Workshop in 2020; tell us about that experience.
It was wonderful. I understand the process people go through to take a class, the indecision right up to the last moment, the hesitancy of, “Do I really want to commit to this? Can I afford the time?” Then, showing up and being absorbed and knowing that I am in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.
How many paintings have you created based on the landscape of Ox-Bow?
Quite a few. The very first paintings I showed in my studio in downtown Saugatuck were Ox-Bow landscapes—in all seasons. Some of the early paintings done at Ox-Bow were portraits done in 1987.
You’ve been involved with Ox-Bow a long time; what is one of your fondest/funniest memories?
One of my fondest memories is turning off the lights in my studio in the Bogart late at night and following the dark path through the woods, past the Inn and up the hill to my cabin. I felt divinely guided.
James Brandess maintains his studio in Saugatuck, where he also conducts painting workshops for adults and children. He is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
This interview was originally published in the 2021 issue of Experience Ox-Bow.