Jim Victorine
1947-2020
Born: Newark, New Jersey
From the artist:
I was born in Newark New Jersey on November 19, 1947. I lived with my parents and two older sisters in Roselle Park, New Jersey, until we moved to Short Hills in Millburn Township, New Jersey, when I was four. I graduated from Millburn High School in 1965 and received a BFA from Pratt Institute in Advertising Design and Visual Communications in 1969.
I was drafted that December. After basic and advanced training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, I was sent to Vietnam in July of 1970. I spent one year in Vietnam with the 1/506 Infantry Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, as a radio operator. Our main base was Camp Evans, located between Hue and Quang Tri in I Corps. I spent a good part of my tour working in the Tactical Operations Centers on Fire Support Bases, usually in the mountains to the west. I was occasionally in the field on radio relays and mortar raids. I returned home in July 1971, after my one-year tour and received an honorable discharge.
After spending part of the summer with my parents, I moved in with friends in Brooklyn. That fall I flew to Rome, Italy, and began a ten-month trip traveling from place to place sketching, making friends, and learning about different cultures. Besides Italy, I visited France, Switzerland, Portugal, and Spain, where I spent most of my time.
I returned to New York where I began working as a free-lance illustrator and graphic designer. I found full-time work on a magazine as an art assistant for Bartell Media Corp. and then as an art director for McGraw-Hill. In 1977 I returned to working for myself as a graphic design consultant and illustrator.
I married Gail Hirsch in 1978 and we moved to the Upper West Side in Manhattan, where we continue to live. I took a full-time job as a graphic designer with Con Edison, the local power utility, shortly after our oldest son, Joe, was born. I retired in November 2012 after 31 years.
Joe, a cinematographer, is married to Liz, a producer. They have two daughters and live in Nassau County on Long Island, NY. Jacob, our second son, is a poet, as is his wife Sarah Tarkany. They live and work in Chicago, IL.
