John C. Sims II

John Curtis Sims II, 54, of Detroit, MI, transitioned at his longtime home and studio in Gillespie Park, Sarasota, FL, on December 11, 2022.

John was a proud '86 graduate of Detroit's Renaissance High School, where he excelled in math and sciences. He graduated from Antioch College in Ohio in 1990 and created and organized the school's Cross-Cultural Field Program and African-American Culture Week, which later became the long-running AACW Blues and Gospel Fest. John was a doctoral student at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, before relocating to Sarasota, where he served as the Coordinator of Mathematics at Ringling College of Art and Design. In this position, he created a visual mathematics curriculum for artists and visual thinkers while developing his own creative practice. John went on to pursue his art full-time in 2005.

Primarily a Conceptual, MathArt, and sculptural artist, John dedicated much of his practice to cross-cultural peacemaking, creating art reflective of the universal nature of mathematical truth. He believed that "when mathematics and art, as parameters of human cognition, are quilted together as Mathematical Art, there is a magical moment when structure and spirit meet in a metaphysical communion of heightened vision." John's work invites us "to witness the magic and vision of mathematical art, as world art, as a voice of nature, and as a call to awaken the journey of the MathArtist in us all." John's work is documented extensively in scholarly reviews, books, and countless news stories and interviews.

He also self-published a library of augmenting texts to his works and wrote several op-eds for state and national news outlets, including the Detroit Metro Times, The Grio, the Huffington Post, Athens News, Aljazeera, The Rumpus, and the Sarasota Herald Tribune. John C. Sims II is predeceased by his mother, Joyce H. Cartwright Sims, and father, John Curtis Sims, Sr. His sister, Angela Shackleford Sims, and his brother, Aaron T. Sims, and their families will cherish his memory, along with family, friends, and the international art community.

On Friday, January 6, 2023, at 6:00 p.m., there will be a celebration of the life and work of John C. Sims II at Irwin House Gallery, 2351 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit. An interment service will follow at 10:30 am on Saturday, January 7, at the historic Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery.

In honor of John's legacy, please consider donating to the following organizations he supported: Halo Arts Project - Angels for Artists and The Irwin House Gallery http://irwinhousegallery.org.

Remember Artist John Sims and be inspired - http://johnsimsprojects.com