Jim earned his BFA from Syracuse University in 1996. While still in college he gained the attention of New York City publishing houses. He received his first book contract upon graduation: Poetry for Young People: Walt Whitman from Sterling Publishing.

Jim then moved westward to study at the Illustration Academy in Kansas City, MO, which lead to an apprenticeship with renowned artist Mark English.

It was during Jim’s three-year stay in Kansas City, Missouri that he experienced his first live jazz performance in the historic Jazz District. This had a profound influence on his artwork. The visual impact of musicians and their instruments have ever since been a source of inspiration for this artist. Soon after, Jim started winning numerous national and international awards for his paintings including a gold medal from the prestigious Society of Illustrators in New York City.

He has illustrated a number of heralded children’s books, such as My Brothers' Flying Machine: Wilbur, Orville, and Me written by Jane Yolen (Little, Brown and Company). This picture book won a coveted Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award, a Parent's Choice Gold Award and received a starred review from Booklist.

An Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award was awarded to A Christmas Gift for Mama (Scholastic) written by Lauren Thompson, which also received an award of excellence from The Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game (Little, Brown and Company), is a picture book that Burke has written and illustrated featuring Jack Norworth’s famous original lyrics. Jim’s rendering of the beloved song recalls one of the all-time most memorable match-ups in baseball history, when, in 1908 (the same year the anthem was written), the New York Giants faced the reigning World Series champions, the Chicago Cubs. Jim’s account of this game pays tribute to Christy Mathewson, the greatest pitcher in Giants history and America's first true sports superstar. Filled with nostalgic paintings and fan-pleasing trivia, the book includes a foreword by award-winning journalist and bestselling author Pete Hamill. The book has received a starred book review from Publisher’s Weekly.

In Maggie’s Amerikay (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) written by Barbara Timberlake Russell, Jim captures the rich mix of people that make up New Orleans in the 1890s and the story of an Irish family’s quest to find their own place in America. Here, young Maggie McCrary discovers kinship in Nathan, an aspiring cornetist, and is introduced to the music called ragtime.

Jim’s paintings have also graced the covers of books from many best selling young adult authors, including Kevin Henkes, Robert Clyde Bulla and Katherine Paterson.

Returning to the east coast from Kansas City in 2000, Jim and his wife Suzanne moved to the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, NY where they presently reside. Together they share a studio in the North Williamsburg neighborhood.

Jim is a faculty member of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and Manhattan. He has lectured at Syracuse University (undergraduate and masters programs) and at The Illustration Academy, now held at The Ringling School of Design in Sarasota, Florida. This summer Jim will be a guest speaker at The National Baseball Hall of Fame, in Coopertown, NY, and at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA.

An early drawing by Jim at age six.

 

Jim Burke

 

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game"
Exhibition in Jim's hometown of Manchester, NH.
Left to right: John Clayton (NH Union Leader newspaper), Hon. Mayor Frank C. Guinta, Jim Burke (center), David Roedel (Roedel Companies, LLC) and Jeff Tagliaferro (NH Fisher Cats Baseball).

 

Jim's sidekick "K.C."