User:Gordon Delgaty/Jay Steensma artist

Jay Steensma artist Jay Steensma was an important regional artist of the Northwest following in the tradition of the North West School. He was born in Moscow, Idaho Dec. 8, 1941, and died in Seattle, WA Oct. 1994. He received his B.F.A. from the University for Washington in 1962 and painted steadily for the rest of his life. Though primarily a painter, he also made sculptures, prints, and photo-collages. Chalices, snakes, houses, clouds, and fish were some of his predominating subject matter. He usually painted in shades of gray and added small bits of primary colors for shock value. He was well known for using the motifs of his mentor Morris Graves. According to friend and colleague Charles Krafft, Steensma loved the idea of whipping out drawings and paintings in a frenzy of creative energy. He was also a master of scale. His work ranged from wall-filling oils to postage stamp size drawings, according to the North West Museum of Arts and Culture.