James S. Watson was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He is an award-winning printmaker, winning the 2023 Waikato Arts Paint and Printmaking grand prize for his work “A Quiet Place to Rest.” Recently, James completed his Master of Fine Arts at Auckland University’s Elam School of Fine Arts.

James is available for commissions, he specialises in Hyperrealistic pencil drawings, both in wax-colour pencils and graphite. He has an extensive collection of portraits, drypoint printmaking prints, wood and linocut prints and has experience in copperplate, aluminium etchings.

James, out of secondary school, never thought that he would be an artist. This was just something that he did on the side of the page in his notebooks. He spent four years working at Auckland City Hospital as an orderly and hospital aide. He trained as a professional chef at AUT, before realizing that he much preferred organizing events. He then completed a diploma in Events Management, starting an events company called Watson Events LTD. This shuttered after managing to break even on his last event. In 2008, James decided to get serious and wanted to do something again in healthcare. He enrolled in Occupational Therapy (not Job Therapy), completing three-fourths of that degree before failing out and ending up with a Bachelor of Health Science (non-specific major).

It should be mentioned that this is all a very clinical look at life. James only worked at Auckland Hospital for four years because a major back injury stopped him from continuing as a hospital aide. His events management company failed in the end because at the time James was very depressed and wasn’t sleeping due to chronic obstructive sleep apnea. The Occupational Therapy degree coincided with James’ diagnosis of dysthymia (chronic persistent depression), and the therapy he was receiving was opening the floodgates of emotions without managing or helping with the consequences.

2010, the year James started to draw. James sacked his old Freudian therapist after a conversation with a complete stranger at a party; he went to a new therapist who used mindfulness and a productive form of distraction (drawing). With constructive dialogue, a hobby that meant that unconstructive thoughts and feelings didn’t have time to dwell and ruminate, James was able to graduate from AUT with his bachelor’s degree in health science and moved to the UK for 6 months.

James returned to Auckland after failing to find work in healthcare, but thought about trying Occupational Therapy again, this time in Hamilton at Wintec. Again he didn’t gel with the academia in the Occupational Therapy school and had 6months left in the accomodation there. During this time James was drawing almost full-time. Doing commissions from the internet and other residents of the student village. James applied for and successfully finished a certificate in visual arts. Which James flourished in. James was happier than he has ever been, or more sure that he was moving in the right direction.

2014, James successfully enrolled in the Bachelor of Fine Arts at Elam. In his time there, it wasn’t all plain sailing. James struggled with pain, something that has plagued him since that first back injury in 2004. He took a break from being a full-time student and joined the Auckland Regional Pain Services group therapy program after being diagnosed with the chronic illness Fibromyalgia. In London, James was in almost constant pain, especially in his knees. He went to see a doctor and physiotherapist about it, and they told him that there was no physiological reason for the pain. They offered James strong pain relief. James was on a lot of pain relief with little to no effect. This is where the group therapy sessions came into play. James started to notice that the more drawing, printmaking, or other forms of making he did, the less pain and being in pain became an issue.

2018 James finished his degree with Honours and started to work at Toi Ora. Toi Ora was a good refuge for James to decompress after that honours year. It had taken its toll, and James again had another health issue to deal with; this time, hypertension. After 6 months of being an Artist at Toi Ora, James was given the opportunity to step into a teaching role there, something he did and enjoyed. In 2019, James transitioned to being a relief tutor, and at the end of 2019/2020, he stepped into the role of Photography tutor, which he held until 2025 when his class was cancelled due to budgetary constraints.

In December 2021 my mother passed away. This was devastating for James who had relied on her support, friendship and encouragement throughout his life. Her absence left a hole in his world and his father’s world and the two of them had to continue without an important person in their lives.

2022 – 2024 James worked on the plate at the top of this page. He knew the title of it before he had even finished etching the first tree. “A Quiet Place to Rest” is an A3 plexi plate with the view from the top of Hillary Heights in the Eden Gardens. This is the view from James’ mother’s final resting place. Finishing this piece, printing it, and then winning the grand prize has helped James finally work through his grief, and now the print sits proudly on the wall of his father’s room in his care suite.