Jim Jeffers is an intermedia artist working with computer mediation, web-art, performance, photography and video in conjunction with conventional media. He is currently working at the nexus of fantasy and biography (Fantabiography) fabricating artifacts of a personal popular culture. Jeffers likes superheroes, airplanes, Volkswagens, Legos, rabbits and television.
He attended the University of California-Santa Cruz, where he received his BA in Art (printmaking and drawing). Subsequently, he studied at NYU, where he received a Master of Arts degree in Studio Art (sculpture and printmaking). Jeffers spent time becoming a better person, cooking for his mother, and making objects in his garage in Encinitas, California (+33° 2' 48.11'', -117° 17' 46.37''). In 2000 he earned his MFA in Visual Art (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 and Art Making-Performance.
He was a co-founder of C.R.A.P. (The Conscious Refuse Adoption Project), with Scott Heath (NYC, 1994-96). He exhibits and performs his work in the United States and internationally. Having five recent one-person exhibitions, two in 2005, one in 2007, 2009, and 2011: 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); and Jim Jeffers' Fortress of Multitude: project 52 for 2010—and other Fantabiographies at MEME Gallery, Cambridge, MA (2011). Jeffers’ performance work has been in public for over a decade, with his Superhero Actions (and other performance iterations), as well as, performing in numerous pieces by other artists. 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 truthful lies. 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.
Jim is a sometime member of SIGGRAPH of the Association for Computing Machinery, and a founding member of The New Media Caucus of the College Art Association. He 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. Jim is currently an Assistant Professor of Art & Design heading the Web Art & Design area at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, as well as teaching Senior Studio. Jim resides mostly in Lowell, Massachusetts with his beautiful wife Jean. He is a founding member of Printer on Prescott Arts Research Collaborative & Artist Studios in the historic center of downtown Lowell where he works.