“I am the Swiss Army knife of professionals: a team leader, problem solver, community builder, ally, experienced with finances, always punctual, and an incredibly hard worker.”

BIOGRAPHY / A NARRATIVE HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Dr. Jim Jeffers is a designer and artist working with computer mediation, web art, performance, photography, and video in conjunction with conventional media. Exploring cultural material and material culture—generatively oscillating at the nexus of fantasy and biography (Fantabiography)—Jim finds the meta-spiritual and psychoactive critically important as incredibly elusive in making art. Jeffers is interested in most things, particularly, superheroes, airplanes, good design, nature, television, education, his family, and socioeconomic, gender, racial, ethnic, and LGBTQ+ fairness and equity.

He attended the University of California-Santa Cruz, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Art (focused on: printmaking, drawing and painting) and had courses in physics and economics. Subsequently, he studied at New York University where he received a Master of Arts degree in Studio Art (focused on: sculpture and printmaking). Jeffers spent time becoming a better person, cooking for his mother, and making objects in his garage studio in Encinitas, California. In 2000 he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Art (focused on: performance, video, installation, and computer art) at Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts; where he taught Introduction to Computer Animation, Introduction to Computer Art, Art Making-Performance and Graphic Design II courses. Jim earned his Doctor of Education degree from the College of Education at the University of Florida, where his research focus was decision-making among visual applied arts administrators, specifically with regard to the placement of graphic design programs either within or outside of fine art departments. 

As a working artist, Jim exhibits and performs his work regularly both in the United States and internationally; having six recent one-person exhibitions, two in 2005, one in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2012: Sol Omnibus Lucet (the sun shines upon us all) at The Contemporary Artists Center, North Adams, MA (2005); Short Trips at The Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ (2005); Metus Nihil (fear nothing) at Jean B. King Gallery, Herrett Center for Arts and Science, College of Southern Idaho (2007); Genii Loci (Ghosts of Protection) at University Gallery, UMass Lowell, Lowell MA (2009); Jim Jeffers’ Fortress of Multitude: project 52 for 2010—and other Fantabiographies at MEME Gallery, Cambridge, MA (2011); and—after winning the Juried Member’s Exhibition—Video Lux, Ego Sum Lux Video! (I see light, I am the light I see!) at 119 Gallery, Lowell, MA (2012). Jeffers’ performance work has been in public for over two decades, primarily expressed in his Superhero Actions as well as other performance modes and iterations, and additionally by performing in numerous pieces by other artists (Lydia Grey, Geoffrey Hendricks, William Pope.L, Carolee Schneemann, Alison Knowles, so on). Since the early 21st century, Jim has maintained a presence in cyberspace with Fantabiography.com: a shifting blend of digital / computer art, artist portfolio, and hyperbolic truths. Additionally, Jim’s work has been exhibited in over 80 group exhibitions since 2000. From 2007-2010 Jeffers was a Co-Principal Investigator on a $421,000 National Science Foundation grant entitled, “Performamatics: Connecting Computer Science to the Performing, Fine, and Design Arts,” to find new ways of engaging computer science students through the arts.

As a designer, Jeffers has worked with many clients to see their visions to fruition, most notably the artist William Pope.L with whom Jim worked on his web-based projects Distributing Martin and The Black Factory (2011-2016). Some of Jim's past notable clients include, Fluxus artist Geoffrey Hendricks, the late painter Larry McKim, Michael Maxwell Fine Art Consulting, the Joy of Giving Something, Inc., and Youth Build Florida Coalition. Many of Jim's design students have gone on to work with notable agencies (BBDO, TBDW/Chiat/Day, Wieden+Kennedy, Mackenzie Cutler), large companies (Boston Retail Solutions, Condé Nast, CBS, Boston Globe, Whole Foods), non-profits such as the Environmental Defence Fund, and many other companies both great and small and he could not be more delighted in their success.

Jim had two books published in 2017, Introduction to Digital Media for Designers and Artists a textbook written and illustrated by Jim Jeffers (Kendall Hunt); and 52 Weeks: A Performance Project Re-envisioned, a compilation of video stills and accompanying writing by Jim Jeffers, designed and illustrated by Danelle Michaud (ElPezCore Press).

Jim was a co-founder of The Conscious Refuse Adoption Project (C.R.A.P.) with Scott Heath (NYC, 1994-96). He has been a member of SIGGRAPH of the Association for Computing Machinery and is currently a member of Rhizome.org, the College Art Association, the National Council of Arts Administrators, the Golden Key International Honour Society, and Alpha Epsilon Lambda Honor Society Alpha Chapter at the University of Florida where he served on the Executive Board as Webmaster (2020-21). As a founding member of the New Media Caucus (NMC), an International nonprofit scholarly arts advocacy organization, Jim served as Treasurer of the Board of Directors for over a decade and helped usher the NMC to non-profit status and become a world-class organization. Additionally, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Printmaking Center of New Jersey, as Education Chair, and was the Chair of the Board of Directors of 119 Gallery, Lowell, MA—at the time the area’s only non-profit gallery dedicated to new media, contemporary art, new music, and performance. In 2009, He co-founded The Arts Research Collaborative with Stephen Mishol and Denise Manseau, a working and exhibition space for contemporary art in historic downtown Lowell, MA.

Jim has taught at: The School of Education, New York University; The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University; and The Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Rutgers-Newark, just to name a few. Jeffers was Assistant Professor of Art & Design, Head of the Web Art & Design area, and Senior Studio Coordinator (2007-09 & ‘11) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, as well as teaching directed studies in printmaking, performance, video, graphic design, and semiotics (2005-2012). In 2013, he was a Visiting Lecturer of Art at the College of the Holy Cross, the oldest Catholic college in New England (founded 1843).

Jim is currently Professor of Graphic Design and Digital Media at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, FL, were he served as Department Chair of Graphic Design Technology (from 2018 to 2022), and is currently Communications Officer IRSC Faculty Senate (a body he helped to form), elected member of the IRSC AAUP union Advisory Board, member of the Commencement Committee, Learning Assessment Workgroup, Planning & Assessment Workgroup (working with S.P.O.L.), and Advisor to the Graphic Design / Digital Media student club (since 2014). Jeffers has taught over 300 course sections as the instructor of record, logging over 17,000 hours in front of students.

Jim lives and works in Port Saint Lucie, FL where he resides with his amazing spouse Jean and their two sons Jack (b. 2013) and Henry (b. 2017).