James Brenner has served as a Core Artist for the Artist for the Chicago Public Art Group, the Director of Chicago Sculpture Works, and the Director of the Columbus Area Arts Council’s Annual Cast Iron Event and Artist Residency Program in Columbus, IN. Brenner has participated as a visiting artist on over 20 occasions nationwide, internationally completed over 40 public and corporate arts commissions, and his work has joined numerous public and private collections both across the country and abroad.

As a public artist, his philosophy is to engage, reflect, and reveal his surrounding environments while bringing art into the everyday life. His art works range from community driven, interactive, and site specific projects; to large-scale, steel, glass and light sculptures. Integral to their surrounding physical and social environments, Brenner’s sculptures serve as platforms for social dialogue. His work asks the viewer not only to observe, but also to engage to become a viewer/participant either in the process of the making or the way the sculpture is experienced.