James Gayles is an Emmy Award-winning artist and musician born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. Gayles attended Pratt Institute in New York, where he studied under renowned painters Jacob Lawrence and super realist Audrey Flack. He simultaneously pursued careers in both fine and commercial art. As a commercial artist, he established himself in New York as a graphic designer and illustrator, becoming Assistant Director of Graphics at NewsCenter 4, NBC-TV. For his work at NBC, he won a television Emmy Award for design and illustration. James is also a two-time winner of Art Direction magazine’s Creativity Award, one for the NewsCenter 4 logo redesign, and the other for an editorial illustration for the New York Times.  James Gayles is committed to cultivating artists and sharing his work. His vision is to put beautiful, uplifting, and enlightening work out there in the world. He sees art as a vehicle to educate, by portraying ancestral icons who Youth and all people can be proud of.