"Jimmy" :The Naive Art of James Thomas

This is Jimmy's story. He was on the navy ship Saratoga in WWII when it was severely impared by 5 Japanese kamikaze strikes. After countless operations, Jimmy survived to become a gifted and established artist. In 1960 he moved to a remote village in Mexico overlooking Lake Patzcuraro, where he further refined his craft as a painter of naive art.

I began documenting Jimmy's work in 1988, and this piece was edited in 1990. In those days all my video work was shot and edited in regular VHS. Even with the poor quality of VHS I was just happy to be making these videos, helping people get their personal stories out into the world.

The stills were taken by Jimmy and his friends. Since I was unable to go to Mexico, I asked him to send me photos of the various stages of his painting progress, from beginning to completion. He also sent me photos of the environment in which he lives. The mask was made by Margaret Fabrizio in the home of Patricia Roane. It was such a remarkable journey getting to know Jimmy, whose work is still being exhibited and sold throughout the world.

Video by Ellison Horne
http://www.wix.com/ellisonhorne/ellisons-photo-portfolio?ref=nf#!portfolio

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Jimmy Thomas
• Margaret Fabrizio
• Ellison Horne
• artist
• naïve art
• folk art
• WWII kamikaze
• Eronguaricuaro Michoacan
• Lake Patzcuaro
• Mexico
• music
• painting
• drawing
• movie film

[ellisonhorne]

@fglipscomb Thanks! Yes indeed, I'll correct this. How lucky that your father survived. Actually, on Wikipedia there are photos from that day. It appears there were 5 or 6 Kamikaze planes that day. Thanks again for your feedback! Onward and upward, ~ e

[fglipscomb]

Naive is the correct term here, My father served on the Saratoga as an anti aircraft gunner in feb. 1945 off of Iwo Jima when it was hit by 2 kamikazes and bombs. It was not "destroyed". it was put out of commission for the duration of the battle. Sara went to portland oregon for repairs and retrofit, and returned to the s pacific to assist in the pending land invasion of the isle of Japan. She was sunk in the bikini islands as part of the nuclear testing several years after the war.