Residing in Aotearoa / New Zealand James's tribal affiliations are Tainui, Te Arawa and Pakeha. He is based in Coromandel Town, Coromandel and is the owner/operator of the Tahaa, Tāmoko Studio and Māori Arts.

James has been working in the arts industry for over 20 years as a freelance multi-disciplined artist specialising in sculpture and working in the fields of carving (bone, stone and wood), painting and other mixed-media creations.  James also works as a Tāmoko (Māori tattoo) artist and is a maker and player of Taonga Pūoro (Māori musical instruments)

James has a Bachelor of Arts, Te Maunga Kura Toi,  (with excellence) in Whakairo Rākau (Maori Wood carving) from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, under the tutelage of Dr Paakaariki Harrison and Professor Kereti Rautangata. He moved on tp acquire a Studio Certificate from Toihoukura, Te Tairawhiti Polytechnic, Gisborne. 1998   

James also became interested Karetao (Maori Puppets) through his passion, for taonga puoro. Karetao are ceremonial marionettes with the body, legs and head usually carved from a single piece of wood. Arms and legs are operated by tightening and releasing cords which are tied through the back of the shoulders. James  said the late Hirini Melbourne, the man credited with "awakening" those sleeping instruments, spoke of the use of taonga puoro in collaboration with the performance of karetao.

James has taken an innovative approach by giving the kareatao a voice by carving them into musical instruments as well. He believes it is a new take on the ancient performing art. "I know lots of people who've made lots of karetao but there's not a lot of people performing with the karetao.

Most of James work today centres around the practise of Ta Moko and he has a studio located in the Corromandel and features a range of works including taonga pūoro, whakairo rākau and is fully set up for performing tāmoko artwork.