Jim Bertone-Gross, Painter
Born: October 28, 1944
Died: April 13, 2011
Periods: American Realism, Precisionism, Hard-Edge
Education: Cranbrook Academy of Art, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Hartford Art School, Austin Peay State University
Jim Gross grew up in a military family in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Hawaii. He and his sister were raised by their mother and stepfather. After graduating from high school, Jim began his higher education in an industrial arts program with a concentration on woodworking, which provided him with a handy skill set which he used later when framing irregularly shaped artwork. He soon switched majors to pursue a degree in Art and Art Education at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee (1962-1966). After graduation, he traveled to Europe and, upon return, continued his art education at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine (1972) and then at Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (1973-1974). Over the course of years up until 1979, he earned his Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from the Hartford Art School, part of the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut. In 1974, he married Pat Bertone and took the name of Jim Bertone-Gross. Jim and Pat had three children.
Over the course of the years of child-raising and home maintenance, Jim had periods when he worked less on his artwork, but he continued to hone his various skills, getting more involved with technology, taking professional development courses and entering a graphic arts program, as well as earning a Professional Educator Certificate. Using his professional degrees, he earned the position of Creative Director at Combustion Engineering, which company later became ABB—Asea Brown Boveri.
During these years, Jim was commissioned by the president of the company to create a painting of the campus that inspired the brand so that it could be used as the background for a National Geographic special on the company. He also had a painting published in the Hartford Journal in an advertisement for a national department store during this time, establishing him as a part of the city’s modern art scene as a result.
Over the course of the years of child-raising and home maintenance, Jim had periods when he worked less on his artwork, but he continued to hone his various skills, getting more involved with technology, taking professional development courses and entering a graphic arts program, as well as earning a Professional Educator Certificate. Using his professional degrees, he earned the position of Creative Director at Combustion Engineering, which company later became ABB—Asea Brown Boveri.
During these years, Jim was commissioned by the president of the company to create a painting of the campus that inspired the brand so that it could be used as the background for a National Geographic special on the company. He also had a painting published in the Hartford Journal in an advertisement for a national department store during this time, establishing him as a part of the city’s modern art scene as a result.