JIm McCormick, Chicago Scene Modernist Architectural Lithograph, Nevada Artist, 1980

Jim McCormick was born in Chicago in 1936. He attended the University of Tulsa where he received a bachelor’s degree in art in 1958, then a M.A. in painting and printmaking in 1960.
Jim joined the art faculty of the University of Nevada, Reno in 1960. He offered instruction in a variety of disciplines including printmaking, drawing, visual foundations and papermaking. In 1989 McCormick was honored with the University of Nevada’s Distinguished Teacher Award. Following his 1992 retirement, he was the recipient of the UNR Distinguished Faculty Award in 1998.

He served on the Nevada State Council on the Arts (now the Nevada Arts Council) from 1963 to 1970, and from 1980 to 1989. In 1990, McCormick received the Governor’s Art Award for Excellence in the Arts.

His prints, drawings and mixed media works have been featured in solo exhibitions at a number of institutions including Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa; Davidson College, North Carolina and University of Maine. He has exhibited at the Sierra Nevada Museum of Art (now Nevada Museum of Art), at Sierra Arts and at the Stremmel Gallery, all in Reno.

His works hang in a number of private and public collections including U.S. Bank, City of Reno, Renown Health Systems and Comstock Bank.

In the early 1970s, McCormick lived in Silver City, Nevada, where he built a complex of geodesic domes (ala Buckminster Fuller) and participated in various activities around the community: the volunteer fire department, city park development, and the town board.

The artist has illustrated several books of poetry and co-authored “Brushwork Diary,” published by the University of Nevada Press, and “An Elegant Line: The Art of the Sheppard Family,” published by the Nevada Museum of Art.

Beginning in 1990, McCormick guided the activities of the Nevada Art Research Project at the Nevada Historical Society, a program that documented Nevada-related visual artists from the mid-19th century on. In his capacity as director of NARP, McCormick curated and wrote catalog essays for several exhibitions: “Seen About Town: The Art of Lew Hymers,” “A Reunion of Landmarks: The Paintings of Roy Powers” and “Wally’s World: The Loneliest Art Collection in Nevada.”

McCormick co-curated and wrote catalog essays for “Post-war Bohemians in Northern Nevada” (2011) and its sequel, “Far Out! The University Art Scene from 1960-1975 (2011),” both shows featured in the Knowledge Center on the University of Nevada campus. An exhibition titled “Wally’s World: The Loneliest Art Collection in Nevada,” sponsored by the Nevada Arts Council, made a three-year tour of Nevada – a show he co-curated and for which he wrote the catalog essay. Most recently, he again co-curated a traveling exhibit for the Nevada Arts Council, “Brushwork Roundup: The Western Paintings and Drawing of Craig Sheppard.”

In 1989, McCormick was honored with the University of Nevada, Reno Distinguished Teacher Award and in 1998 he received the Distinguished Faculty Award. The Nevada Governor’s Art Award was bestowed on him in 1990. Prints and drawings by McCormack have been featured in solo and group exhibitions across the United States, including the Stremmel Gallery in Reno. His works hang in a number of private and corporate collections including U.S. Bank, Comstock Bank and Renown Medical Center. He has illustrated a number of books and co-authored Brushwork Diary published by the University of Nevada Press and An Elegant Line: The Art of the Sheppard Family, published by the Nevada Museum of Art.

Beginning in 1990, McCormick directed the Nevada Art Research Project at the Nevada Historical Society, a program that documented Nevada-related artists from the mid-19th century to the present