Bringing Art to Life

Though James “Jim” P. Hayes (64JD) is a lawyer by trade, he has a true calling as a passionate arts advocate. Hayes has devoted his life to preserving renowned American Gothic artist Grant Wood’s legacy—and also has helped reimagine the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art’s new home.

The highly regarded attorney first became involved with the UI art museum as a participant in its members council. He eventually went on to serve as chair of the museum’s advisory board and then as a member of its envisioning and building committees after the flood of 2008. Those groups helped make crucial recommendations about the new building’s final design.

“I wanted to help see the new UI Stanley Museum of Art come to fruition,” says Hayes, who made a personal donation to the rebuilding fund that will result in the museum naming its main staircase in his honor. “With its openness, efficiency, and futuristic use of the collection, it is very much a museum without walls, available to all.”

The Grant Wood Art Colony is a cluster of five houses adjacent to 1142 East Court Street, a home that Hayes purchased in 1975. This landmark property was Grant Wood’s residence while the artist was on faculty at Iowa, and as Hayes worked to restore the historic dwelling, he began to imagine a way to honor Wood’s “Iowa Idea” of connecting studio artists and art history scholars.

In partnership with the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Art and Art History, Hayes turned his brainchild into reality in 2011, and today, he serves as chair of its national board of advisors. The colony nurtures creative work and teaching in disciplines associated with Wood, including studio and performance art and art history. It brings Grant Wood Fellows—artists-in-residence—to the School of Art and Art History, the Department of Theatre Arts, and the Department of Music, and it also hosts a biannual Grant Wood symposium and state outreach efforts.

Hayes’s path from UI student to UI art benefactor included roles as the Iowa deputy commissioner of public safety, as the first director of the Iowa Crime Commission, and as a candidate for Iowa attorney general. He also was a partner at Meardon, Sueppel, Downer, and Hayes before going on to establish his own firm, Hayes Lorenzen Lawyers, in 1999.

Throughout these career changes, Hayes has remained deeply invested in Iowa. Like the artist and UI faculty member who inspired him, he has used his time and talent to create a vibrant artistic community that enhances students’ experiences.

“Art enriches all our lives; it expands our minds and our ways of interacting with others, and it portrays history and beauty,” says Hayes. “It’s important that we all support the arts, and especially at this moment, the UI Stanley Museum of Art.”