Jay Boersma is a unique blend of artist, writer, designer, and web/internet specialist. Concentrating in fine art photography at the Rhode Island School of Design (MFA) and Columbia College Chicago (BA), Boersma's personal interests and drive have led him to the technologies of the computer and Internet. For twenty years, he taught art and photography at the university level followed by fifteen years of frontline experience as the creative director of a major entertainment website. A technological early-adopter, he developed and employed Internet technologies to teach art before the Web existed, and he continues to explore evolving methods of content delivery such as tablet computers and mobile devices.
1996 - Present
Creative Director Playboy.com, Playboy Enterprises, Inc., Chicago, Illinois.
Responsible for the look and feel of one of the Web's most successful life-style/entertainment sites, Playboy.com. Oversee a team of designers, photographers, multimedia specialists, image technicians and HTML coders in the production of daily content updates, expansion and addition of new channels, incorporation and branding of third-party collaborative material, and ongoing site evolution. Favorite project: A Day in the Life of Hef. Fluent in JavaScript, Flash, sound and video editing. Dream in HTML/CSS.
2000 - 2005
Part-time Faculty, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Teaching Web Design 1, an introductory-level course which emphasizes HTML coding "by hand."
1982 - 1996
Professor of Art, Governors State University, University Park, Illinois.
Taught Graduate Art Seminar, History of Photography, Image Theory, Color Photography, Desktop Publishing, and other general art courses. Taught Governors State's first Internet-based course, The Gallery Electric: Chicago Art Criticism Online, in fall of 1993 and began teaching "Design for the World Wide Web" in 1994. Webwork, an offshoot of this web design course continues to be a widely used online tutorial.
1979 - 1981
Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.
Taught Beginning and Advanced Photography including view camera and color courses.
1977 - 1979
Instructor, Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois.
Taught Beginning and Advanced Photography, 16mm Film Production and Film Appreciation.
Photography since 1980, print design since 1985, computer interface design (icons, logos, splashscreens, sounds) since 1990, web pages since 1994.
An online portfolio of vintage and recent photography is viewable at re-vision.com.
Represented by Joseph Bellows Gallery.
M.F.A. 1976 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
major: Photography; elective work in ceramics and filmmaking
B.A. 1973 Columbia College, Chicago, IL
major: Art with photography emphasis and elective work in creative writing
A Mind at Play, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL, 2008, group exhibition
Beyond the Photographic Frame, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL, 1999, group exhibition
Simple Truths, Schneider Gallery, Superior Street, Chicago IL, 1995, one-person exhibition
The Gallery Electric, 1994, (an essay about teaching and community-building on the Internet) published in the "Geography of Cyberspace" issue of Works and Days: Essays in the Socio-Historical Dimensions of Literature and the Arts (Indiana University of Pennsylvania Press)
Portfolio of photographs and photo-constructions published in the "Recycling History" issue (Fall, 1994) of Photovision, an international journal of photography published in Spain
Industrial Effects: Twentieth Century Photographs from the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL 1994
American Photographers: Recent Acquisitions, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1993
Repetition Compulsion, Again (Again), Soho Photo, New York, NY,1992
Repetition Compulsion, Again, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL,1992
Midwest Photographer's Project, The Museum of Contemporary Photography (at Columbia College, Chicago),1991
Mirrors, Messages and Misunderstandings, Infinity Gallery, Governors State University, University Park IL, 1990
Changing Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center Exhibition and University of Illinois Press book publication, 1989
Hysterics of Photography, San Francisco Camerawork, San Francisco CA, 1989
Simple Truths, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago IL; one-person show, 1989