James Povah was born in Montreal in 1949. He came to art relatively late in life, after more than 20 years in the business world. One day in the Fall of 1993 he happened to see in the window of a shop in Annapolis Royal; a little landscape by the renowned Nova Scotia artist Cluny Maher. This was a watershed moment in his life. Here was art such as he wanted to create! The following week Povah saw an announcement of art instruction by Maher. This art class jump-started his art career.

He sold his first painting, (a copy of a Seurat), to a guest of the B&B that he and his wife Christine were running in Clementsport, N.S. After further sales, in 1997 he opened the Povah Gallery at that location and has since sold paintings to buyers from Germany, Britain, France, Australia, United States, and Canada; quickly acquiring an international clientele.

Except for the brief period of instruction with Maher, Povah is a completely self-taught artist. In 1993-4 he made numerous assiduous copies of the works of impressionist artists, learning from the Masters, assimilating and adapting their methodology to his own art. Since then he has gradually developed his own instantly recognizable style; characterized by vibrant colour and emphatic brush stroke, reminiscent of his artistic mentors Van Gogh and Cezanne, yet with a uniqueness that is his own.

In recent years Povah has also been showing his work in Halifax at the Art Sales and Rental Society's gallery at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia as well as at Trout Point Lodge, not far from Yarmouth, N.S.

Now 58 years of age, with some 300 works behind him, Povah is producing what many consider his best work ever; and in prolific quantity, about 25 works per year.

Web design by Povah Consulting.
Functionality & Hosting by Scott Duggan