1941–1994

Nationality: American

Affiliation: Northwest Artist

Jay Steensma was born in 1941 in Moscow, Idaho and died in Seattle in 1994. He received his B.F.A. from the University for Washington in 1962 and painted steadily for the rest of his life.

Though primarily a painter, he also made sculptures, prints, and photo-collages. Chalices, snakes, houses, clouds, and fish were some of his predominating subject matter. He usually painted in shades of gray and added small bits of primary colors for shock value. He was well known for using the motifs of his mentor Morris Graves. According to friend and colleague Charles Krafft, Steensma loved the idea of whipping out drawings and paintings in a frenzy of creative energy. He was also a master of scale. His work ranged from wall-filling oils to postage stamp size drawings.

The Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture owns sixteen drawings and etchings by Steensma, a collection largely created from donations from Wesley Wehr and Dale Stenning.