Jim Barry is the Director of Visual Arts at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), a world-renowned science and engineering institute in Pasadena, California. He specializes in  silk-paintings, water colors and etchings that are influenced by his love of science and anthropology. 

 

After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara, Jim spent five years in Senegal, West Africa. Immersion in African culture inspired and continues to inform his art. Currently, his works are exhibited in African museums, including the National Palace of Mali, and in various embassies and French cultural centers throughout West Africa and Tanzania.  He also provides volunteer assistance and translation for African development projects, such as building web sites for science conferences.

 

 Jim also has been instrumental in creating new Virtual Reality tools and interactive spaces for Caltech students of both arts and the sciences.

 

In the words of his friend and fellow artist, Walter Askin,  "Art can provide a sense of expansiveness and give us a sense of infinite possibilities even when we are mindful of our limitations."