Synthia SAINT JAMES

World renowned and celebrated artist, author and architectural designer Synthia SAINT JAMES is also a popular keynote speaker and presenter. With a client base that includes corporations, schools, universities, museums, non-profit organizations and special event coordinators, Ms SAINT JAMES has spoken for Neutrogena, University of Southern California, Natural History Museum, International Reading Association and the National Geographic Society.

Ms. SAINT JAMES will be the first painter to receive the prestigious Trumpet Award, on January 30, 2010 at the 18^th Annual Awards Ceremony, which will be televised in April in eighteen countries.  In 2010 she will also be inducted into The Hall of Fame of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and she will receive her first Honorary Doctorate Degree from Saint Augustine’s College. 

One of her many past honors include the History Maker Award for designing the first Kwanzaa Stamp for the U.S. Postal Service. She is currently featured in the award winning documentary film “The Black Candle” by M.K. Asante, Jr. which is narrated by Dr. Maya Angelou, and she is also one of the featured cast in “Breast Cancer Examined: An African American Perspective” a documentary that debuted on the TV ONE Network in October 2009.  She also serves as a ambassador for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Barnes & Noble celebrated Black History Month 2009 by featuring her art on merchandise in their 800 stores nationwide and on their website to sell out audiences, and will do so again in 2010. 

The following is a quote from one of her reviews. “Modest and proud, sincere and strong, hardworking and light-hearted, warm and witty, audiences love her!  She is the consummate professional.”

Ms. SAINT JAMES is still booking her 2010-2011 speaking engagements, and exhibitions.  She is available for your special events and conferences, and for celebrations including Kwanzaa, MLK Day, Black History Month, Women’s History Month and more…

To book speaking engagements call 323.993.5722 or email

tobooksynthia@synthiasaintjames.com. 

Synthia SAINT JAMES, international award winning artist and designer of the first United States Postal Stamp for the Kwanzaa holiday, has to date written and or illustrated 13 children’s picture books, 3 poetry and prose books, 4 children’s activity books, a cookbook, and a postcard book. 

She is the recipient of The 2008 Woman of the Year Award for the 26th Senate District, and she has garnered numerous other awards including a Parent’s Choice Silver Honor, a Coretta Scott King Award, and an Oppenheim Gold Award all for her books.

On January 30, 2010 she will receive the prestigious Trumpet Award for the “Arts” in Atlanta, Georgia. The awards program will be aired in April to an international audience.  Also in 2010 she will be inducted into the National Organization of Women Business Owners, Los Angeles, Hall of Fame, and receive her first Honorary Doctorate Degree from Saint Augustine’s College, Raleigh, NC.

Her paintings grace the covers of over 70 books, including books by Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker, New York Times bestselling author IyanlaVanzant, and books by Terry McMillan, also a New York Times bestselling author whose books have been published worldwide in several different languages.

Barnes and Noble licensed her artwork “Brilliance” for merchandise, including tote bags and journals, in celebration of Black History Month 2009 to sellout audiences. So for Black History Month 2010 they will release new merchandise featuring her artwork “Butterflies Dream”.

Her architectural designs include a 150 foot ceramic tile mural for Ontario, California’s international airport, 6 - 9x4 foot elevator doors for a building in California’s State Capitol’s East End Complex, Sacramento, California,  stained glass windows for the West Tampa Library in Tampa, Florida, and a 4x7 foot ceramic tile mural (inspired by Dr. Maya Angelou’s poem “On the Pulse of Morning”), commissioned by Gibson, Dunn, Crutcher LLP for Cowan Elementary School in Westchester, California.   She was also commissioned to create the 3x6 foot painting that hangs in the Women's Center of Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California.

SAINT JAMES has completed numerous commissioned signature images for non-profit organizations including the International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters (which hangs at the Vulcan Station in Brooklyn, New York), Children’s Institute International, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, the Harlem Book Fair, the United Way, and the National Education Association.  She unveiled the poster that she created for the Center for Disease Control at the United Nations on World AIDS Day 2005, unveiled the original painting that she created for the Metropolitan AME Church (Harlem, NY) at the Schomburg in February 2006, and unveiled the 20th anniversary painting for the 100 Black Men of America, Inc. in June 2006..

In reviews her artwork has been described as “ebullient”, “bold”, “creates paintings that remind one of Matisse cutouts in their clear line and intense color” and “joyful”.

She was honored with the 2004 Woman of the Year Award in Education by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women and she is a proud recipient of The HistoryMakers Award.  Fall of 2006 she received both the MOSTE Inspirational Women Award and the Samella Award for her artistry, and designed the "We See You Award".  SAINT JAMES is also one of the women included in Dr. Cynthia Jacobs Carter’s National Geographic book, Africana Woman: Her Story Through Time.

She has recently created signature paintings for Children's Institute International's "Project Fatherhood", Susan G. Komen for the Cure's "Circle of Promise" campaign for which she now serves as a National Ambassador, and “Crowns” for Regina Taylor’s play Crowns. 

She is a member of the cast of M.K. Asante’s latest documentary “The Black Candle” which is currently screening worldwide, and is also a member of the cast of “Breast Cancer Examined: An African American Perspective” which will air on the TV One Network in October.

In just the past month two of her original paintings were donated to the permanent collections of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York, by the House of Seagram, and to Spelman College by Dr. Walter Allen.

SAINT JAMES, a self-taught artist, credits the creator and her ancestry (which includes African American, Native American, Haitian and German Jew) for her artistic gifts.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Synthia SAINT JAMES Celebrates

  Internationally renowned artist Synthia SAINT JAMES celebrated her 60^th birthday and 40^th anniversary as a professional artist in 2009. 

According to SAINT JAMES her first birthday present was her fantastic licensing agreement with Barnes and Noble, the nation’s largest chain of bookstores.  Merchandise featuring her artwork was released in their 800 stores and on their website in February in celebration of Black History Month.

New to her palette is her Tuscany Series, inspired by a recent visit to this beautiful region in Italy.  To date the suite includes “A Taste of Tuscany”, “Tuscan Sunflowers”, “Cypress Grove”, and “Autumn Leaves”.

She has created a very special painting celebrating the hope that our new president elect, Barack Obama, has already instilled in the people of the entire world entitled “Fire Rainbow Obama”.   Limited edition giclees on canvas are now available and featured on this website in the Gallery section.

She traveled to the Turks and Caicos Islands, to celebrate her birthday and for inspiration for a new series of seascapes, which will be added to her ever expanding Seascapes Revisited Series, inspired by her many trips to the Caribbean, Hawaiian, Tahitian and Fijian islands.

SAINT JAMES is currently booking speaking engagements, appearances and exhibitions for 2009 a special year for us all.

For further information and to book an engagement please call 323.993.5722 or email kikusaintjames@aol.com.  

Synthia SAINT JAMES, international award winning artist and designer of the United States Postal Stamp for the Kwanzaa holiday, has to date written and or illustrated 13 children’s picture books, 3 poetry and prose books, 4 children’s activity books, a cookbook, and a postcard book.  She is the recipient of The Woman of the Year Award for the 26th Senate District, and she has garnered numerous other awards including a Parent’s Choice Silver Honor for her book Sunday, a Coretta Scott King Honor Award for illustrating Neeny Coming…Neeny Going, and an Oppenheim Gold Award for the book To Dinner For Dinner, which she illustrated.

Her architectural designs include a 150 foot ceramic tile mural for Ontario, California’s international airport, 6 - 9x4 foot elevator doors for a building in California’s State Capitol’s East End Complex, Sacramento, California,  stained glass windows for the West Tampa Library in Tampa, Florida, and a 4x7 foot ceramic tile mural (inspired by Dr. Maya Angelou’s poem “On the Pulse of Morning”), commissioned by Gibson, Dunn, Crutcher LLP for Cowan Elementary School in Westchester, California.   She was also commissioned to create the 3x6 foot painting that hangs in the Women's Center of Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California.

SAINT JAMES has completed numerous commissioned signature images for non-profit organizations including the International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters (which hangs at the Vulcan Station in Brooklyn, New York), Children’s Institute International, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles,  the Harlem Book Fair, the United Way, and the National Education Association.  She unveiled the poster that she created for the Center for Disease Control at the United Nations on World AIDS Day 2005, unveiled the original painting that she created for the Metropolitan AME Church (Harlem, NY) at the Schomburg in February 2006, and unveiled the 20th anniversary painting for the 100 Black Men of America, Inc. in June 2006..

Her paintings grace the covers of over 60 books, including Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale, Disappearing Acts, Mama, and the Japanese translation of How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and Iyanla Vanzant’s Acts of Faith, Faith in the Valley and The Big Book of Faith.

In reviews her artwork has been described as “ebullient”, “bold”, “creates paintings that remind one of Matisse cutouts in their clear line and intense color” and “joyful”.

She was honored with the 2004 Woman of the Year Award in Education by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women and she is a proud receipient of The HistoryMakers Award.  Fall of 2006 she received both the MOSTE Inspirational Women Award and the Samella Award for her artistry, and designed the "We See You Award".  SAINT JAMES is also one of the women included in Dr. Cynthia Jacobs Carter’s National Geographic book, Africana Woman: Her Story Through Time.

She most recently completed signature paintings for Children's Institute International's "Project Fatherhood", and Susan G. Komen for the Cure's "Circle of Promise" campaign for which she now serves as a National Ambassador.  She is also a member of the cast of M.K. Asante’s latest documentary “The Black Candle” which is currently screening worldwide.  Barnes and Noble will feature her work for their Black History 2009 celebration in their 800 stores nationwide and on their international website.

SAINT JAMES, a self-taught artist, credits the creator and her ancestry (which includes African American, Native American, Haitian and German Jew) for her artistic gifts.

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Synthia SAINT JAMES COLLECTORS (Partial Listing):

Coca Cola USA                             Essence Communications

The House of Seagram                 Glendale Memorial Hospital

Johnnie L. COCHRAN, Jr.          Alice WALKER

Gibson, Dunn, &Crutcher            Tavis SMILEY

The Riordan Foundation              Yolanda KING

Lloyd COTSEN                            Glynn TURMAN

Monterey Blues Festival               Richard PRYOR

Earl GALES, Jr.                           Carl GORDON

Jenifer LEWIS                              Charles FULLER

Paula KELLY                                Randy CRAWFORD

Brenda RUSSELL                         Dawnn LEWIS

EXHIBITIONS (Partial Listing):

International Small Graphic Art          Stockholm, SWEDEN

Musee des Duncans                              Paris, FRANCE

Cosmopolitan Artists                            Seoul, KOREA

Salon Internationale,                            Quebec, CANADA

Natural History Museum                      Los Angeles, CA

National Museum Women in the Arts     Washington, DC

The Society of Illustrators Museum         New York, NY

The Museum of Tolerance                   Los Angeles, CA

Museum African American Art            Los Angeles, CA

Afro-American Cultural Center           Charlotte, NC

Disney Studios                                       Burbank, CA

University of Utah                                 Salt Lake City, UT

Hilton Corporate Headquarters           Beverly Hills, CA

Inner City Cultural Center                   Los Angeles, CA

PERIODICAL INTERVIEWS (Partial Listing):

Los Angeles Times                  Los Angeles Times Magazine

Essence Magazine                   Excel                           Upscale

About Time                                              Celebrity Magazine

Black Issues Book Review     United Parenting Publications

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