Jim Bove

Jim Bove has been teaching a breadth of courses in art and design at California University of PA, now PennWest University CalU campus, since 2005. His specialty is Jewelry and Metals, but he continues to expand his teaching to include all 3D areas, such as sculpture, 3D Design theory, and ceramics. Jim earned his BFA at West Chester University of PA, and moved to Edinboro university to pursue his state teaching certification in art K-12, while there his interest in jewelry and metalsmithing grew, after a period of teaching in public school he was invited back to earn his MFA as the first full-time graduate student in the new jewelry Masters program.

Notable exhibitions include Munich’s prestigious Schmuck in Germany, the Taiwan International Metal Crafts Competition in Taiwan, and the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea, and the Royal Ueno Museum in Tokyo, Japan. After winning first place in the international Halstead Design Challenge, Jim was asked to be on the committee to create the next year’s design challenge and jury entries; he ended up being invited back to help organize, jury, and define the design challenge for three years. Jim’s work is included in the permanent collection of the Metal Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, and Hiko Mizuno Jewelry College in Tokyo, Japan. He is represented by Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Jim has participated in several artist residencies, including an NEAE funded residency at Haystack Mountain School for Crafts in Maine, Cerdeira Village residency in Portugal, Arrowmont School of Art and Craft’s Pentaculum residency in Tennessee, which was invitation only at the time, and the international Arctic Circle residency in the Arctic region. Following the Arctic Circle residency, Jim was commissioned by the Pittsburgh International Airport to create a temporary installation in the concourse of the airport.

Following his residency experience at Arrowmont, Jim was invited to join the board of governors for the craft school, where he currently serves on the board and as the programing committee chairperson. Before serving on Arrowmont’s board, Jim was voted on to the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) board, where had previously been the technical editor for SNAG.

Having extensive experience in classroom safety, designing jewelry studios, and best studio practices, Jim was brought in as an expert consultant by Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh PA to advise their architects during the building of their new space, and is the studio advisor for Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington PA. Jim is currently on the Master Planning committee for Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts where he is working with the design team to help plan Arrowmont’s additional campus location.

Lectures of note include a lecture at the Tecnológico de Monterrey Universidad (Monterrey Technological University) in Mexico, Hiko Mizuno Jewelry College in Tokyo, Yamanashi Jewelry Art School in Japan, and for the Japan Jewelry Design Association. Jim has also been invited to speak across the nation, most recently for San Diego State University, and Indiana University of Bloomington Indiana. He has also organized several international exhibitions between the United States and Japan, including Metalsmiths Linking: a cross-cultural exchange, Contemporary American Jewelry, Japanese Jewelry Today, and a collaborative curation called Forged in Metal: Deshi/Shisyou Mentor/Mentee which was hosted by Grand Valley state university in Michigan.

In addition to exhibiting his artwork, Jim has written articles for Art Jewelry Forum, Four Season’s Jewelry magazine in Japan, SNAG’s Metalsmith Tech, and he was commissioned to create the glossary for the award-winning book, Cast Art and Objects: Humanities most Transformative Process. His artwork can be found in magazines including America Craft, Metalsmith, and Ornament magazines, and in books such as On Body and Soul: Contemporary Armor to Amulets, Humor in Craft, and Heat, Color, Set, Fire.

Jim maintains an expressive range of work which explores materials as well as new approaches and technologies. His artwork can be found online at www.jimbove.com