User:Dholdstein/Jay W Boersma

Jay W. Boersma

Jay Weaver Boersma (September 7, 1947-  ) is a fine art and documentary photographer, designer, and creative director, and since 1996, Senior Creative Director at Playboy.com.

Born on the south side of Chicago, Boersma attended the Chicago and Blue Island, Illinois, public schools, later attending the University of Illinois at Chicago (then the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle). He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1974 from Columbia College Chicago with a concentration in photography and additional work in ceramics and printmaking. Boersma received the MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1976, having studied with such noted photographers as Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind.

Between 1979 and 1996, Boersma taught photography and art at Bradley University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Governors State University. He exhibited his work widely during that time and has work in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, and in several private collections.

Representative portfolios of his work can be viewed on his website:

Providence, Rhode Island, large format photography of Providence and surrounding areas.

Along the Mississippi River, a documentary project spanning several years that covered several towns and small cities along the northern Mississippi River.

The Reliance Building, a record of Chicago's famous early "skyscraper" at the lowest point in its history, just prior to its restoration and rebirth as the Hotel Burnham.

After two decades of teaching, Boersma became increasingly involved with the Internet and the World Wide Web, which led to his changing careers in 1996 and becoming the Creative Director for Playboy Magazine's burgeoning web presence, playboy.com. "A Day in the Life of Hef" is an example of the broad range of work he produces for Playboy.

Jay Boersma is represented by Joseph Bellows Gallery in La Jolla, California.