Artist Biography 

Born in Blackfoot, Idaho, in 1970, Jason Coles has always enjoyed creating art. His favorite courses in both Junior High and High School were his art classes. Because of the mentoring of high school and college art instructors, he decided to combine his two loves - art and teaching. He became a high school art teacher in 1995 after graduating with a degree in Art Education from Boise State University. Coles taught art at Snake River High School for the 19 years and currently teaches at Bonneville High School. He earned a Master's degree in Art Education from the University of Idaho in 2007.

Over the years as he conducted demonstrations for his students, he developed a wide range of styles and techniques. Recently he has begun following his passion for creating art professionally and has devoted more time to his art and style. He considers himself as an emerging professional artist.

His preferred subject matter is people and the emotions and stories that can be told without a word being spoken. He has undertaken a study of how to tell these stories through texture and color. Coles' s work is bold, yet graceful. His work has a spontaneous yet organized feel.

Artist Statement

"The process of my work parallels the essence of life. I yearn to experiment and create. The anticipation of planning and creating a new piece of art grows into the application of different marks, textures, and colors in a piece. This feeds my creative side while accuracy with the structure and lighting represents the subject. I often have conflict as the painting progresses requiring me to step back and see areas that need refinement and revision. It is followed by the gratification of overcoming those obstacles and roadblocks, visually and emotionally. This is concluded by reaching a level of satisfaction in spite of the imperfections that I see in my work; recognizing plans don’t always work out the way I originally envisioned."