Jet James Biography

EARLY YEARS

Born in Denmark, Western Australia, 1984, Jet James was son to flower power legend 'Angie King' and aspiring artist Steven Blurton. Jet lived his very early years in poverty, a witness to drug-abuse and crime. At the ages of 5 and 7, Jet and his younger sister Paris, lost their mother to a domestic argument. Two years later they were orphaned from their father ending his own life.

 

SCHOOL YEARS

Jet and his sister were sent to live on a remote cattle station in Queensland in the care of their father's brother and wife. Jet describes them as unloving and distant. Attending no physical school, Jet turned to drawing and immersed himself in his own art world. At the age of 15, Jet was preparing himself for the army, when he decided he wanted to become a professional artist instead.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Jet moved to Rockhampton at the age of 19, where his sister was living at the time. There, he used the $5,000 he inherited from his late grandmother to put himself through a Diploma of Visual Communications at Central Queensland TAFE. Here, he met mentor Peter Indans, an experimental Printmaker from Melbourne who helped Jet develop his love of printmaking using PVC.

AWARD WINNING ARTIST

Jet James is an award winning Australian artist recognised for printmaking, painting and mixed media artworks. Jet has won many accolades including a shortlisting in the National Youth Portrait Prize of Australia, Winner of the Charles Ware National Young Artist Award, and in 2015 he was selected as one of the leading printmakers for an exhibition in New Zealand. 

 

ARTWORK LICENSED BY COMPANIES

 Jet James has also been signed on by companies such as Bio Pak which saw his artwork on coffee cups across Australia & New Zealand, and on Rockflowerpaper Tea Trays & Coasters that was distributed in potentially 5000 outlets across the United States.  Most recently he worked with architect firms in Germany which saw his work used for transparent walls & wall paper in a wellness retreat & hotel in the Swiss Alps. He has also had his artwork transformed onto glass doors at Schaffler Brau a German Brewery.

 

SHARING HIS SKILLS THROUGH ART WORKSHOPS

Jet has a passion for sharing his unique techniques in PVC collagraphy which can be viewed on his YouTube Channel or experienced through Printmaking workshops, some of which includes organisations such as Fibre Arts Australia  in Ballarat, Artworx Geelong, Great Barrier Reef Authority, Lower Hutt Art School New Zealand, Creative Gladstone, Emerald Art Gallery and many private & public schools.  Jet also has 10 years of experience at facilitating art programmes for persons with disabilities.

  

PRESENT TIMES

Jet James is now a renowned Australian artist, designer and owner of this own art gallery in the heart of Yeppoon. The Jet James Art Gallery showcases the artwork and merchandise of Jet James alongside other very talented local Jewellers, Resin and Ceramic Artists. Inside the gallery you may find Jet working on something new and exciting.