Also on display

James PAte

Without a doubt, James Pate is one of the most striking artists to emerge from the Midwest. James was born in Birmingham, AL but raised in Cincinnati, OH where he attended the School for the Creative and Performing Arts. He received the prestigious Corbett Award, which earned him a scholarship to attend the Art Academy of Cincinnati during his senior year in high school. During his primary years he received public attention and buyers for his art. Labeled gifted, he instinctively understood how to compose two-dimensional space with very uncommon and mature draftsmanship ability. His art education is largely a result of self-discipline, dedication, and consistent projects that refined and propelled his already potent aptitude to a professional level of quality.

Pate is an innovative multi-stylist whose work has been exhibited in and acquired by numerous galleries and museums, including the Dayton Art Institute in Dayton, OH, Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, OH, J.B. Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY, Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University in Montgomery, AL, National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN, and the DuSable Museum in Chicago, IL. His creations are in the permanent art collections of the Dayton Art Institute, Cincinnati Bell, Atlanta Life Insurance Company, and Central State University, to name a few. He has received countless commissions from a diverse array of entities, including the Cincinnati Reds MLB Franchise, Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation, AES Ohio (formerly Dayton Power and Light, Inc.), Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority, and the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio.

James is a past winner of the highly competitive Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award grant and a two-time recipient of the Montgomery County Individual Artist fellowship. In 2010 he won Best of Drawing, Best of Painting, and Best of Show at the nationally competitive Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL—an unprecedented ruling. He won Best of Show again in 2025. He is the 2015 Individual Artist recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Governor’s Award for the Arts, which is awarded annually to a single Ohio artist whose work has made a significant impact on their discipline locally, statewide, regionally, or nationally.

Pate is highly regarded for his unparalleled artistry as a muralist and his many murals adorn an assortment of private and public spaces. One of these highlights is a 170’ x 12’ public-art piece for the City of Dayton which is published in the coffee table book Walls Of Heritage/Walls Of Pride, the first book to feature murals created exclusively by African American artists in cities across the country. Another standout is Pate’s ArtWorks Cincinnati 44’ x 7’ Wall of Queens scratchboard mural displayed at the Duke Energy Convention Center. This intricate public-art piece composed of nearly 300 individual scratchboard panels was voted CityBeat Cincinnati’s Best Queen City Mural in 2018.

James has earned a solid reputation as an art educator. For over a decade he served as an adjunct staff member at Dayton’s Colonel White High School for the Arts teaching advanced drawing and painting to students pursuing careers in visual art. He has completed artist-in-residence programs at the Dayton Art Institute and in K-12 schools and universities throughout southern Ohio, and has led a myriad of workshops, training intensives, master classes, conference sessions, and professional development opportunities around the country. He is the 2013 recipient of the Dayton Art Institute’s Pamela P. Houk Award for Excellence in Education.

James Pate currently lives and works in Dayton, OH, where he co-owns and operates Black Palette Art Gallery, a commercial fine art gallery and cultural hub in the Historic Wright-Dunbar District specializing in exhibitions, sales, commissions, events, workshops, and consulting. Additionally, he is a member of the design and graphic production team at Display Dynamics, Inc., a full-service custom exhibit company, where he assists with design-build projects ranging from permanent museum installations to trade show structures. He remains a sought-after hands-on art education consultant for a variety of school districts and community organizations, providing instructional methods designed to encourage students to stay in school and excel. You can also find Pate in his studio diligently engaged in fine art production to meet a demanding year-round schedule for collectors, commissions, and exhibitions.