Jim Hanna, a native Montanan, lives in Billings. Prior to his career as a sculptor and watercolor artist, he was a children’s dentist for thirty-five years. His retirement from dentistry in 1989 afforded him the time and opportunity to pursue the creative expression he knew as a boy growing up, using his hands to build and create what he saw. His father, a machinist, and his grandfather, a painter, laid the stepping stones for Jim to follow as he experienced fulfillment by working with his hands.
Portraits and landscapes are the primary subjects for Jim’s watercolors while wildlife and action scenes are expressed in his bronzes.
Jim’s mentors and instructors include: Zack Garretson, T.D. Kelsey, Nellie Rafn, Bernadine Fox, Ben Steele, Mary Blain, Marilyn Beth Hughes, Elliot Eaton, Jessica Zemsky and Jack Heins.