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Dr. Jim Trolinger,  the scientist

 

Education:

B.S Engineering Physics, University of Tennessee, 1963

M.S. Louisiana State University, 1964

Ph.D. University of Tennessee, 1967

Activities

1958-62-Co Op Student USAF Arnold Engineering Development Center.

1967-73-Scientist USAF Arnold Engineering Development Center.

1967-73- Associate Professor of Physics, University of Tennessee Space Institute

1973-75--Science Applications International Corp.

1975-88-Co-Founder and Vice-president, Spectron Development Laboratories, Inc.

1988-Present-Co founder and Director of Research, MetroLaser inc.

I acted as a co-investigator in Space-Lab 3, IML-1 (International Microgravity Laboratory), and Principal Investigator in SHIVA (Spacefllight Holography Investigation in a Virtual Apparatus) (1985-1995). We were the first to deploy holography in space for crystal growth diagnostics, particle tracking, and measuring g-jitter. SHIVA was one of the first applications of digital holography.

This work and work for the US Air Force required me to be trained as a flight crew member to gain experience, as shown here, to understand how astronauts operate  instruments in microgravity, and for airborne measurements in general. 

Jim Trolinger,  the artist

Education:

1948-54- training under Tennessee art master Corrine Houston; drawing, pastel and oil painting.

1985-2005-Orange Coast College and Coastline Community Colleges, included: Art history, drawing, painting, color and design, portrait painting, figure painting, basic and advanced techniques, plein air painting, pastel, watercolor, and oil.

Workshops

2005-2015-Plein air painting with art master, Timothy Clark, in 6 different countries.

2010-Portrait painting with art master Lorenzo George

2015-Color workshops under Master Steven Quiller

2010-2015-Member of Board of Directors of the Southern California Artist's Association.

Activities

My first art award was at the age of seven. My science career provided an opportunity to travel the world and paint en plein air in 36 different countries. My primary media are watercolor and oil, focusing on plein air and figure work. I have a studios in Orange County California and Bedfordshire, England. I have painted in Death Valley for many years and has taken groups of artists to paint in California deserts many times; Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks, Alabama Hills, and Monument Valley.

Training in NASA's KC 135 MicrogravityAircraft (Vomit Comet)

Plein Air Painting in Death Valley, CA

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I organized paint outs in California deserts and beyond, starting with  Death Valley National Park, and continuing with Joshua Tree National Park, Alabama Hills, and Randsburg, ghost town. By 2020, 3 paint outs in Death Valley included about 10 artist friends. 

In 2014, seven of us traveled in a van to Monument Valley, Utah to paint in the Navajo nation. 

In 2018, seven of us traveled to and painted in Andalusia, Spain for a week.

For each of these paintouts, I created a book documenting the experience including paintings, scenery, and artists at work.

In 2020, our planned paint out in Death Valley was cancelled due to the Corona virus epademic. 

My interest in making art began at the age of 4 with my mother's vision and encouragement. A talented artist, herself, she convinced me  that I was destined to be the next Picasso.  I had an art career in my dreams even before beginning grammar school.  An amazing second grade art teacher entered my work in a Tennessee statewide art contest, and everyone except me was delighted that I was selected as a runner up. I was baffled that I had not won. This contest indirectly led to independent training under Miss Corrine Houston, an established master, who became my mentor and much of my whole world for the next few years. I began painting in oils at the age of eight and I never stopped making and loving art.


 Eventually, when college time came round, economic reality set in and I placed my ambitions in art aside by taking up physics as a vocation. Meanwhile, making and appreciating art became more of an escape, an avocation, and a passion. I was caught up in the beginning of the space age in all its opportunities and challenges. I earned a PhD in physics at the University of Tennessee, specializing in the closest thing I could find to art which was the application of coherent light and lasers and the newly emerging field of holography. Professionally, my work in holography was technical in nature, but I quickly found and participated in the art aspects of holography.

medium of holography which would allow me to leverage fundamental knowledge I already had.
 Now with less need to devote full time to a career in science, I spend about half of my energies in art  via making art and critiquing holographic art. I am a member of Laguna Pleine Air painter's association and Southern Califorinia Artist's Association.  http://www.socalartists.org/default.asp , and I am chairman of the board of directors of the latter organization. Although my art is not for sale it is in collections all over the world; I paint for the love of making art. As you will discover in this site, it is possible to own my art by donating to charity.

In addition to pleine aire painting in the United States, my professional career gives me the opportunity to travel all over the world.   I paint the most beautiful things I see in these travels. I have painted extensively in England, France, Italy, Turkey, Germany, China, and Africa and have plans for other countries. My goal in painting is to create a record of beauty and meaning. I believe that artists have the ability to call attention to beauty and meaning that is impossible to capture in a photograph and often missed by the casual observer. I also record my observations, discoveries, insights, and mystical experiences while traveling. These you can read on my Worlds Worst Tourist site or in the "On the Road" section of this website.

Finally, in the mature stages of a rich career in physics with economics no longer being an obstacle, in 1993 I resumed my formal education in art, with classes at Orange Coast and Coastline Colleges, two excellent art schools in Orange County California. I had two goals in mind with these studies. One was to expand my skills in various media, learning as much as possible from well-known California artists, like Tim Clark, Jane Bauman, and Lyn Torrini. The second objective was to develop skills in art appreciation and critique that I could employ for the relatively new medium of holography which would allow me to leverage fundamental knowledge I already had.

Now with less need to devote full time to a career in science, I spend about half of my energies in art via making art and critiquing holographic art. I am a member of Laguna Pleine Air painter's association and Southern Califorinia Artist's Association, and I am chairman of the board of directors of the latter organization. Although my art is not for sale it is in collections all over the world; I paint for the love of making art. As you will discover in this site, it is possible to own my art by donating to charity

.

In addition to pleine aire painting in the United States, my professional career gives me the opportunity to travel all over the world. I paint the most beautiful things I see in these travels. I have painted extensively in England, France, Italy, Turkey, Germany, China, and Africa and have plans for other countries. My goal in painting is to create a record of beauty and meaning. I believe that artists have the ability to call attention to beauty and meaning that is impossible to capture in a photograph and often missed by the casual observer

.

I also record my observations, discoveries, insights, and mystical experiences while traveling. These you can read in my Worlds Worst Tourist site (www.worldsworsttourist.com).

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