‘Toon’ In for November — Jim Balletto

Jim Balletto hails from Warner Robins, Georgia, Home of the Robins Air Force Base Museum of Aviation. He is a proud Vietnam veteran and served twenty-six years with the United States Air Force. With an extensive career as a Combat Photo-Journalist in Vietnam, a political cartoonist for Knight-Ridder newspapers, instructor in Art and Architecture he has managed to round out his career as an accomplished artist, teacher, designer and art director.

In 1990 he was commissioned to paint nose art on the 19′ Air Refueling Wing, that at the time was assigned to Robins Air Force Base, plus many others from private collections.
Jim has since retired as the Art Director for the Museum of Aviation: a position he cherished and claims to be the best peacetime job he ever had and is now the owner of Blue Heron Studio in Kathleen, Georgia where he paints commissioned artwork for his clientele and his local community.

Today many of his works can be seen in Georgia State Capitol, in the Offices of Senators and Congressmen, the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, Georgia and the Office of the Governor. Besides working and operating his studio, he plays golf, collects antique automobiles, and volunteers in support of local community projects.