April 24, 1935–Feb. 3, 2023

In his artist’s statement for a 2016 retrospective show, Jim Loveless, professor of art and art history emeritus, asked viewers “to consider all the paintings on exhibit … as unfolding in an unbroken line.”

Considering that his catalog ranged from poured abstractions to meticulously detailed landscapes, his request might have been seen as asking a lot. But as Jim explained to the Picker Art Gallery Journal in 1994, he painted to create “a quiet conversation with the viewer so that we are both looking at the same event and dealing with it, each in our own way.”

That is, he painted to get us to think.

His former Colgate students say he taught in the same way. Bruce Morser ’76 calls Jim “a kind of artistic father to me. He let me buck the traditional fine art system, and he managed to do it without saying a lot about it. He just showed me a level of kindness not common in the art world.”

Leslie Heaslip ’74 Wengenroth says Jim had “a rare ability to work with each of us in our own style and interests,” an ability she traces to his own artistic skill. “He had the confidence to experiment and try new directions,” she says.

Woody Swain ’69 remembers seeing an exhibit of Jim’s work (“the first I ever saw where I knew the artist”) and thinking, “This guy is good. I’d better pay attention.” While studying both studio art and art history with Jim, he “never saw him lose his temper” — an emotion Jim reportedly reserved for malfunctioning slide projectors.

Jim’s explanation for his sympathetic approach to teaching: “Art’s hard.”

With degrees from DePauw and Indiana universities, Jim taught for six years at Hope College and the University of Kentucky before arriving at Colgate in 1966. Over the next 32 years, while teaching a full course load, Jim was also a leader in refining the University’s general education program and growing the department of art and art history. He served terms as both director of the Division of University Studies and chair of the Department of Art and Art History.

In the 1970s, Jim oversaw the design and construction of Ryan Studio, an “annex” to Dana Arts Center housing modern studios for sculpture, painting, printmaking, photography, and filmmaking. “Under Jim’s leadership, the studio arts were brought into the mainstream curriculum at Colgate, and into the avant-garde of late-20th century thought and practice,” says John Knecht, professor of art and art history emeritus.

“Jim loved teaching in the core,” says his wife of 48 years, RuthAnn Speer Loveless MA’72. His frequent gallery and museum presentations to alumni and community groups drew from his vast knowledge of art and history and were offered in the same enlightened yet conversational style.

As a boy, Jim began to develop his own artistic skills during a long recovery from rheumatic fever. He said his mother, Edris, was his earliest artistic influence. Encouraged to become a medical illustrator because of his technical skills, Jim instead was drawn to painting and produced a remarkable and diverse body of work during his long career, experimenting to the end. Both Yaddo (1980) and the Millay Colony (1987) awarded him artistic fellowships.

Jim’s work was featured in many solo and group exhibitions at museums, galleries, and educational institutions, including the Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C.), Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and Grand Rapids Museum of Art. His paintings are included and enjoyed in countless private, institutional, and corporate collections across the country. The nationally known artist also generously donated works to local public institutions.

Jim was devoted to his family. He and RuthAnn had five children, nine grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Reflecting the enduring nature of faculty influence, Ray Wengenroth ’69 and Jim were longtime friends and artistic collaborators. On one recent plein air outing to Maine’s Monhegan Island, Wengenroth was overheard explaining to a local resident, “I’m here with my professor.”