james rees has taught art for over nineteen years at the University, college and High School levels. He currently teaches a graduate class at westminster college in salt lake city.  He is a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar and has also received awards from the National Art Education Association and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation as well as several residencies and fellowships.

He currently serves on several advisory art boards and state art education committees.  He regularly does work with the utah arts council, is on the board of directors for the utah art festival and manages to maintains his own studio practice.  He is passionate in his advocacy for art education (through balancing art education theory, research and practice.  He earned his BFA from BYU and His MFA from the University of Arizona.  He was honored in 2006, by the David O. McKay school of education as the Outstanding Art Educator of the Year. 

"The arts enlarge the student’s imagination and widens their view of the world through visual thinking.  Teaching the arts should heighten the student’s senses and increase their ability to experience the world in a more complex, subtle and meaningful manner, and have them confront their own thinking."

in Addition to his contribution as an art educator, he continues to work as an artist and exhibit his artwork regionally and nationally.