Woman Floating Toward the Moon, Signed watercolor. James Denmark was born in Winter Haven, Florida on March 23, 1936 into a family of artists. He was exposed to color and form at an early age by his grandmother, a wire sculptor and quilt artist, by his grandfather, a bricklayer noted for his unique custom design molds and his mother who was gifted with an intuitive feeling for design and a fastidiousness for detail, which she expressed in all aspects of her daily life. This rich beginning is the root of James Denmark's creative expression.From 1973 to 1976, Denmark earned his Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Pratt Institute of Fine Arts in New York. While at Pratt, Denmark met and was nurtured by an immensely talented community of artists. During this period he was heavily influenced by the Abstract Expressionists and admired such mainstream artists as Jackson Pollock, Clifford Still, William deKooning. The African-American masters Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence and Ernest Crichlow instilled in him an appreciation of African/American artistic heritage. "So much richness reinforced my natural talents," Denmark says of his growth at Pratt. He likens it to picking up a baton and carrying it to the next leg---his collages.Overall size: 11 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. Sight size: 6 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.