James Graham

James Graham began his culinary career as scullion at the Sazerach House in Greenwich Village while attending the famed High School of the Performing Arts. Working his way up to line cook he enjoyed a long engagement at Wilson’s on the upper Eastside, after which he earned an apprenticeship to Chef Jean Pierre Zagou at La Brasserie in the Seagram’s building. After three years of training there and at the adjoining Four Seasons, he was recruited by Anthony Bourdain to be his sous chef at Nikki and Kelly’s on Columbus Ave. After two successful years there, the two took the helm of Gianni’s at the new South Street Seaport, and founded the Arrival Catering Company.

Taking a break from New Yoin 1990 James attended the University of Arizona where he earned the Kodak scholarship in photography and began a career as an exhibiting artist. It was there he met his wife to be Julia Latané.

In 1994 he and Julia opened the Grill, an ambitious restaurant designed to serve the needs of downtown Tucson’s bourgeoning arts district. The Grill was a twenty-four hour, seven day a week American Diner serving nouvelle comfort food with a high brow New York twist.  After running the Grill for five years at twenty four hours a day, 7 days a week, Julia and James wanted to turn their attention to their newest project; The Museum of Contemporary Art, and sold the Grill to their sous chef Patrick Forsyth who ran it for many years after.
MOCA Tucson was founded in 1997 by James and Julia with friend David Wright. Using only a volunteer crew and donated they renovated a condemned warehouse into a showpiece of the revitalized downtown. While serving as the founding director of MOCA Tucson for three years, James hosted dozens of exhibitions, workshops, panels, film, and live events. Julia curated several international exhibits, and served as board president. This year MOCA Tucson celebrated it’s 14th anniversary in it’s new 60,000 square foot permanent home.

In 2001 James and Julia moved to Los Angeles to explore new opportunities, like art making and teaching fifth graders at the Griffith Observatory.

Julia Latané

Julia Latané is an artist who specializes in large-scale installations.  In the last twenty years, her work has been shown at museums and galleries in cities around the world, including San Francisco, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Phoenix, Houston, and Los Angeles.

Ms. Latané has designed and built interiors and furniture for businesses, organizations, and private residences in Tucson and Los Angeles.  Julia’s facility with a broad spectrum of materials enables her to create rich and layered environments full of unique textures.
She served as Head Preparator at the Autry center for 5 years and is now at the helm of the Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles.