“Art is, after all, only a record of a people in a time, and this is the time of technology.”

JAMES SEAWRIGHT - “Phenomenal Art: Form, Idea, and Technique” in On the Future of Art. 1970.

JAMES SEAWRIGHT 1936 - 2022

James Seawright is recognized as one of the foremost technological artists since the late 1960’s. His works are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum and the Guggenheim Museum of New York, the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, the New Jersey State Museum at Trenton, and other museums throughout the world.   

Most recently his work “Searcher” was in the exhibition “Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art” September 2018-April 14, 2019 at the Whitney Museum. (curated by Christiane Paul). “Twins”, “Gemini”, and “Lyra” were part of the exhibition “Uncharted: American Abstraction in the information Age” (curated by Karen T Albert) January 28-June 19, 2020.

James Seawright was a professor at Princeton University, and the director of the Visual Arts Program for several decades. Prior to Princeton, James Seawright was technical supervisor of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.

James Seawright was born in 1936 in Jackson, Mississippi. He received a BA in English from the University of Mississippi in 1957. He was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, 1957-61 (active duty) 1961-65 (active reserve), where he served on small surface ships in Operations and Engineering. After moving to New York City, James Seawright studied with Jose De Creeft at the Art Students’ League of New York 1961-1962. He was an assistant to the canonical modern dance chorographer Alwin Nikolais where he composed electronic music scores and designed lighting effects. He served as the technical director of the Mimi Garrard Dance Company.

Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions:

  • 2020 January 28 - June 19, 2020 “Uncharted: American Abstraction in the information Age” (curated by Karen T Albert) Emily Lowe Gallery at Hofstra University Museum of Art

  • 2019 September 2018 - April 14, 2019 Whitney Museum, “Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art “Searcher” by James Seawright; curator Christine Paul

  • 2019 Mutual Muses, Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

  • 2018 Mutual Muses, Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, KY

  • 2010 Princeton University Art Museum / Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

  • 2006 O. K. Harris Gallery, New York, NY

  • 2005 Constellations, William Patterson University, Wayne, NJ

  • 1998 Walter Anderson Museum, Ocean Springs, MS

  • 1997 Annual Invitational Exhibition, American Academy of Arts and Letters, NY

  • 1995 60th Anniversary Exhibition, AAA, Kean College Art Gallery, NJ

  • 1993 Images du Futur, Montreal, Quebec

  • 1993 Princeton University Art Museum

  • 1992 New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ

  • 1992 OK Harris Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1990 P.U.L.S.E. Il, University of California at Santa Barbara Art Museum, Santa Barbara, CA

  • 1987 P.U.L.S.E., David Bermant Foundation, 420 West Broadway, New York, NY

  • 1986 A Decade of Visual Arts Faculty, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ

  • 1986 An American Renaissance: Ft. Lauderdale, FL,

  • 1986 American Abstract Artists 50th Anniversary Show, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY

  • 1985 Ben Shahn Gallery, William Patterson College, Wayne, NJ

  • 1984 The Robot Show, American Crafts Museum, New York, NY

  • 1983 Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

  • 1981 Works from the Permanent Collection, Whitney Museum, New York, NY

  • 1977 Works from the Permanent Collection, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY

  • 1974 Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

  • 1974 Sunsieve, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ

  • 1973 Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Airport, permanent installation

  • 1973 Works from the Permanent Collection, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY

  • 1972 Responsive Environment, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ

  • 1971 Works for New Spaces, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN

  • 1970 Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ

  • 1970 Duke University Art Museum, Durham, NC

  • 1969 Stable Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1969 Cybernetic Serendipity, Institute for Contemporary Art, London, England

  • 1969 Theodoron Awards Show, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY

  • 1969 New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ

  • 1968 Focus on Light, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ

  • 1968 Magic Theater, Performing Arts Foundation of Kansas City, MO

  • 1967 Whitney Annual, Whitney Museum, New York, NY

  • 1967 The Sixties, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

  • 1966 Stable Gallery, New York, NY

Selected Grants, Awards and Commissions

  • 2004 Princeton University Behrman Award

  • 2003 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters - Lifetime Achievement Award

  • 2001 Mirror sculpture commission for Alan and Adele Alda, New York, NY

  • 1999 Stanley Seeger Fellowships to visit Greece, Turkey, Sicily (1999-2001)

  • 1997 Academy Award in Art, American Academy of Arts and Letters

  • 1990 David Bermant Foundation Grant for Walking on Gravel

  • 1987 Connecticut Commission on the Arts, UConn, Storrs, CT

  • 1987 Honolulu Center for Contemporary Art, Honolulu, HI

  • 1986 Permanent installation of sculptures at Logan International Airport, Boston, MA

  • 1985 Sculpture commissioned for West Erie Plaza, Erie, PA

  • 1985 Commission for Mobil Technical Center, Pennington, NJ

  • 1984 Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, Sculpture

  • 1984 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters, 1984 Award of Merit, Visual Arts

  • 1984 Sculpture: Mirror II, commissioned for Long Ridge Mall, Rochester, NY

  • 1984 Cottonlandia Collection Awards, Greenwood, MS (Juror)

  • 1984 Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY, "Art and Technology" (Panelist)

  • 1983 Sculpture: Electronic Garden #2, commissioned for Long Ridge Mall, Rochester, NY

  • 1982 NEA Inter-Arts Grant to Create a New Work, New York, NY

  • 1976 National Endowment for the Arts, Research Grant

  • 1974 National Endowment for the Arts, Works of Living Artists

  • 1970 Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts Fellowship

  • 1969 Theodoron Award, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY

Bibliography:

Articles By:

  • "What Is Electronic Music?" Radio-Electronics, 26, June 1965, p. 36

  • "What Goes Into an Electronic Music Studio," Music Educators Journal, November 1968

  • "Introduction to Mixers and Level Controls," Electronic Music Review, I, 4 October 1967, p.10

  • "Phenomenal Art; Form, Idea, and Technique," On the Future of Art, 1970, The Viking Press, New York

  • "A High-Speed Digital Control System," Lighting Design and Applications, IV, March 1974, p. 14-21

  • CORTLI-Composing and Outputting Real-Time Lighting Information (with M. Garrard, E. Ghent and W. Hemsath), January 1978, Mimi Garrard Dance Co., New York

  • "A Theatrical Lighting Graphics Package" BYTE, III, 6 June 1978, pp. 153-156 (with Garrard, Ghent and Hemsath)

  • "Converting Powerline Transformers For Transmitter Service" QST, LXIV, 11 September 1980, p. 38-42 James Seawright, Jr.

Articles About:

  • New York Times, November 5 and 6, 1966

  • Life Magazine, April 7, 1967, p. 112

  • Art in America, January-February 1968, p. 38 (interview)

  • Art in America, September-October 1969, p. 53

  • The Magic Theater, Ralph T. Coe, 1970, The Circle Press, Kansas City

  • Smart, 1975, Red Clay Books, Charlotte, NC (interview) p. 40

  • Photomethods, Vol. 18, #11, "The Care and Feeding of the Complete Photographer," Peter Moore, p. 53

  • American Renaissance, Sam Hunter (ed.) 1986, Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

  • New York Times, Review of P.U.L.S.E. show, April 24, 1987, p. c-1

  • Art in America, Review of P.U.L.S.E. show, July 1987, p. 122

  • Arts Magazine, Vol. 62, #2, October 1987, "The Spectacle in Time: A New Look at Art and Technology," Robert C. Morgan

  • Digital Visions, Cynthia Goodman, 1987, Abrams/Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY

  • Interactions, Miranda McClintock

  • Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefiled, CT, Catalog and Video, 1988

  • James Seawright - Catalog essay by Tom Finkelpearl, New Jersey State Museum, April 1992

  • Art in America, May 1993, review of OK Harris show