Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Jones.
Hi Jackie, I’m so excited to have you on the platform. Before we ask about your work life, you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I am an artist and a writer. When I first moved to Austin in 2008, I had a booth at the old Hope Farmers Market (on the east side at Waller and 5th) selling my jewelry line, occasionally trading earrings for a pie or t-shirt. It was Weird Austin, and I was finding my success and rhythm in a city where it seemed everyone was doing something creative. There was an art show or live music at a house or on a porch every weekend. Everything flexes and widens, and as did Austin, I grew, too, eventually digging deeper into my graphic design career. I moved away for several years, started my family, and then had the opportunity to come back to Austin in 2016. After the birth of my second daughter, I realized that long days of being in front of a computer screen were not a viable option for my family and the balance that I needed as a mother. I found the act of pregnancy and the wild, blurry days of raising young babies, an incredibly creative (also messy and chaotic) time and space. I began painting, drawing, and participating in the East Austin Studio Tours again – bit by bit, feeling that vibe of creative Austin come back into my life. Through years of trial and experimentation, keeping my toe in the water has begun to grow legs, and my art practice has become a sustained business. Like every individual business, it has its strengths and weaknesses, but for me, it is more than what I do; it is also who I am.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story. Has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you overcome?
My formal training is in oil painting, but that requires multiple back-to-back studio sessions to work with the paint before it dries, and as a mom of three young kids, I don’t have that time available. So I’ve had to find alternative mediums which better suit this season of my life. Showing up to make art can often feel impossible and buried under a list of other life priorities. It’s not easy to choose to create work from yourself, and then share those vulnerabilities with others. The work I make is a choice, and I have to choose to show up for it every day- no one else is guiding me, and that can be as liberating as it can be isolating. But the sharing of it is essentially human, and the exchange of sharing a creative work with another is always a moment that I feel privileged to experience.
Thanks for sharing that. Please tell us more about your work.
My artwork has grown naturally with every global and personal life shift, influencing my medium of choice, physical practice, and themes. My pieces are incredibly colorful and oversaturated, so gouache paints are the optimal medium to give me that indulgence. They dry instantly like acrylic, but you can layer them and they offer a luscious opaque quality once dried. The series I’ve been creating with gouache vary from large color washes on paper with faded hand-lettered messages, to collages formed into over-simplified landscapes sometimes with a house, a plant, or a UFO included. Playful, lighthearted things that make me happy. And I’ve realized that, truly, is enough. Creating something that makes me happy is enough to spill over into the rest of what I do and how I carry myself through whatever else the day brings along. The long-running series that has allowed me to continue my artwork regularly is the work I create with charcoal, another medium that enables me to work in a single session. I’ve been drawing these charcoal moon phases as commissions using the farmer’s almanac to reference a specific date to correlate that moon phase in honor of an anniversary or birthday. Each moon is mounted within a weighted bottom mat similar to a Polaroid, referencing a snapshot moment in time. My hope is that these works can become heirloom pieces for each home they land in.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
By nature, being an artist can often feel like you are working in a vacuum, so the genuine need to find and foster a supportive community is important. Engage in city events (like artist talks, show openings, courses, and open studios), and you will begin to find that creative community. Invite yourself to make your work, and show up. Artists are interesting and, in turn, interested. Say hello to other creatives, and do it in person if you can. And don’t be afraid to share your work; if it’s important to you, it is important.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.jonesandwest.com
- Instagram: Jonesandwest
Image Credits
Zig Metzler
