James Maria was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. During formative years, he honed his talents in the visual and performing arts, eventually pursuing a secondary education in fine art at Kutztown University. Since graduating summa cum laude with Chamblis and Sheradin awards from Kutztown University’s Art Education and Fine Arts programs in 2012, James has participated in and garnered significant awards and honors at many international juried exhibitions, producing a handful of solo shows in Kutztown, Lancaster and Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Watermedia centric organizations such as the American Watercolor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, and Watercolor USA have been immeasurably valuable in his early career, providing exhibition opportunities as well as critical exposure in the national and international markets. James has shown with the Philadelphia Watercolor Society, the Mid-Atlantic Watercolor Society, Rhode Island Watercolor Society, Missouri Watercolor Society, Louisiana Watercolor Society, Rocky Mountain National Watercolor Society, the Northwest Watercolor Society and others.

James has attained signature membership in a handful of watercolor societies, most notably the American Watercolor Society and the Watercolor Honor Society.

Outside of the critical and commercial success he has found in the watermedia community, James has also advanced in interdisciplinary juried exhibition circuits, especially in shows pertaining to the pursuit of representational painting and to themes surrounding spirituality and human environment interactions.

In addition to work in private collections, two of his paintings are included in the permanent collection of contemporary watercolors at the Springfield Art Museum in Springfield, MO and one resides within the permanent collection at Kutztown University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.

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