JAMES E. BURFORD

BURFORD JAMES E. BURFORD "Jim" On July 14, 2014, painter and popular local art instructor James E. "Jim" Burford died after a brief illness. He was well known as a gifted teacher, and generous and devoted mentor at the Alexandria Art League School and Marymount University, where he had taught for 15 years. Jim began his teaching career as a graduate student in Pittsburgh, where he earned an MFA in Painting from Carnegie Mellon University in 1978. After graduation he taught at Mt. Vernon College in Washington, DC for 21 years, where he was a tenured Associate Professor of Studio Arts. Jim also taught at many schools and colleges in the Washington metropolitan area, including several campuses of Northern Virginia Community College, the Corcoran College of Art and its Mentorship Program, the University of Maryland, and the Maryland College of Art and Design. He will be greatly missed by his many students, colleagues and administrators in these programs. Jim's career as an artist began at the University of Oregon, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Fine and Applied Arts in 1971. He went on to create a following as an innovative painter, achieving numerous grants, awards, honors, and commissions on the west coast, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC. Jim's paintings were featured in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe. His work is included in many private, corporate and public collections, including the Portland Museum of Art, the University of Art & Design in Finland, and the Archives of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery Library. Jim was also an avid cyclist, regularly biking from his home in Arlington to school in all types of weather. In recent years he took up recreational cycling with a group of neighborhood friends, whom he called fondly, "the boys in the 'hood." He was loathe to give up this enjoyable pastime even after his diagnosis, as he continued to bike to the hospital for treatments, to the amazement of his doctors. Jim is survived by his wife of 41 years, Sandra Louise Burford; and daughters, Elizabeth Grace Burford and Mary Kathleen Burford, all of Arlington, VA; his sister, Sandra Joan Nichols of Sandy, UT; brothers, Thomas George Burford of San Rafael, CA and William Charles Burford of Vancouver, WA. Arrangements are pending for a memorial service on September 17 at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington, VA. Online condolences may be made at: www.dignitymemorial.com