A Conversation with Jimmy

Combining painting, ceramics, steel, wood, bronze in innovative ways.

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Jimmy Toade

(Pronounced Jimmy O A, The “T” and the “d” and sometimes the “e”, are silent. My Etruscan heritage).

I'm an East Tennessee native who has traveled and shown extensively throughout the US.

My work is in public and private collections of notable figures and institutions: Rolling Stone Magazine, RCA Records, Sony, Yee Haw Inc, Islip Museum of Art, and in the private collections of Ralph Lauren, Lucinda Williams, Sandra Bullock, Claudia Tienan Ramone, Six Pence, Aaron Nevell and others. I developed an alliance with Hatch Show Print, The Tennessee Artist Guild, Vanderbilt University, and worked for Microsoft Seattle, which provided connection to the music industry, and my growth in creating art for musicians.

While at UT Knoxville I worked under Whitney Leland, Pam Longobardi, Herb Creecy, and others and earned a BS in Computer Science, BFA Fine Art Painting and a BA History, and started a lifelong fulltime career in oil painting, bronze, ceramic, and steel sculpture, wood carving, and printmaking.

Jimmy was born at a time before even he remembers. From the first moment he could hold a crayon with his fingers and toes, he's been creating art. At a very young age he was interested in technology and communications. He built and experimented with connected communications (Packet Radio Teletype) and sent and received messages, and computer generated photos. In these very early days of what would become the internet there were no PCs, only Intel 8086 chips and completely homemade devices to transmit and receive analog signals to process into something useable. A few years later he received a BS in Computer Science, BFA Fine Art Painting and a BA History, and started a lifelong fulltime career in painting, sculpture, ceramics, wood carving, and printmaking. He's also a general contractor with the specialty of building artistic structures. He loves playing guitar, bass, and drums, kayak and canoeing, bicycling, trail running, hiking, vintage motorcycles, funky pop culture, MCM design, historical ruins, and especially those fun things that don’t fit into any categories. One of his biggest interests is learning new things every day. Every morning he exercises and focuses on becoming a more complete person for himself and those around him.

A deep curiosity and a passion for experimentation, blending diverse philosophies to create compelling, multidimensional art. His belief that art is a universal language that can connect people from all walks of life push him to create further even on days when results seem lacking. His work explores shared human experiences to foster understanding and inspire dialogue, bridging cultural, social, and personal divides.

Life is short, you get one opportunity, so let’s go do something amazing!

Peace, Love, and Understanding, that's it and that's all...

Self Portrait, stoneware 30" tall