Denomie, Jim (1955–2022)

Jim Denomie, one of Minnesota’s most significant and beloved visual artists, is best known for his large-scale narrative paintings. He used irony and humor to depict the political realities Native Americans face, including brutality and abuse, as well as his personal visions of eroticism, joy, grief, and spirituality. Denomie’s style is distinct and inimitable, especially in its use of color.

A member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Denomie was born in 1955 on the reservation in Hayward, Wisconsin, and lived there through his early years. His family relocated to Chicago briefly in 1959. Denomie’s parents then divorced, and he and his mother relocated to Minneapolis, where he grew up, worked, and lived most of his adult life.

Denomie attended public schools in Minnesota. After high school he worked in construction and eventually became a skilled drywall installer—a job he held until a year before his death. Denomie was driven to provide for his family, which grew to include two daughters and later a son and grandchildren.

In 1989, Denomie became sober. He shared the fact of his sobriety publicly and privately, and it was a key aspect of his personality as an artist and a man. Denomie mentored others as they sought sobriety as he himself continued to make up for the years he had lost to alcohol abuse.

In his late thirties, Denomie was determined to go to college. He did not, however, plan to take up art at the University of Minnesota, where he enrolled in 1990. Having taken a test that showed an extraordinary aptitude for mathematics, he entered college thinking he would major in a field where he could use his mathematical skills. He began taking courses in American Indian Studies, graduated with a BFA in art in 1995, and launched his visual art career with a graduate show at Two Rivers Gallery in the Minneapolis American Indian Center.

Denomie’s first solo exhibit as a professional artist took place in 1997, also at Two Rivers Gallery. His first award was a 1999 Jerome Foundation travel and study grant; afterward, he joined group exhibitions several times a year. Denomie had studio space in the Rossmor Building in St. Paul during this time. Solo exhibitions in 1998 at Beauxmage Fine Art in St. Paul and in 2000 at Duluth Art Institute were well received and encouraged Denomie. He soon gained the support of gallerist Todd Bockley, who began representing him in 2007.

Denomie married Minnesota author Diane Wilson (Mdewakanton Dakota, enrolled at the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota) in 2002. The couple lived for many years in St. Paul, then moved to rural Shafer (Chisago County), where Denomie built a two-story studio with space enough for large-scale projects.

Throughout the 2000s, Denomie developed his distinct painting style as a colorist, humorist, and “metaphorical surrealist,” as he described his work in 2018. He also produced several series of works in other media, including sketching, photography, sculpture, and carving. He created found-object sculptures, specifically masks, and published a book of sketches in 2020 with Rez Rabbit Press. Landscapes and portraits formed the basis of his artwork. Subjects that carry through in much of Denomie’s art include faces, both beautiful and grotesque; historical and political events that included Native Americans; and rabbits (waaboozoog), which he identified with for cultural reasons. Denomie named his workspace Waabooz Studio.

On March 1, 2022, Denomie died at his home in Shafer. He was sixty-six years old.