Jackie and I went for a lovely walk to Lowery cross on Dartmoor this week with our dogs, Claude and Percy. We have walked together on Dartmoor previously but this time I wanted to briefly interview her, for her upcoming solo exhibition in October, ‘Into the Wild’ at Wildwood Arts and why she chose Dartmoor for her new collection. I also wanted to understand more about textile art. We have been gifted with bright blue skies for our walk today, a blue that echoes the blue skies that Jackie often uses in her work.
As we walk down through the conifer plantation, the wind rushes through the treetops and I ask Jackie what draws her back to Dartmoor again. Jackie lived on Dartmoor many years ago, and after living in Australia the Southhams and now Plymouth, she looking to move back to the moor. “Fresh air, the solitude, the hundreds of textures and colours in every direction, the way the light hits things and can change them so dramatically. If you just stop for a moment and look at the detail. This is what I love,” says Jackie.
We stop and Jackie moves some ferns beneath a tree and there hides a tiny mushroom.
“I love the undergrowth,” says Jackie. “I love tiny detail and all the little kingdoms that are living at the bottom of the trees. There is so much life and yet it is so quiet and calm. I feel a calmness on the moor. It just wraps itself around me.”
“We walk through a gate. Tranquillity, peace, quiet, that’s how Dartmoor makes me feel. I enjoy the sense of history from abandoned machinery, stone rows and the ancient trees. There is always something different to experience. When I was little I used to take myself off, by myself and I’d walk along disused railway lines- I was always fascinated by something old and decayed and all the new growth around it.”
Jackie stops to admire the colours in the bracken that is turning to a beautiful bronze and copper.
We find ourselves in an old oak grove with moss covered granite boulders beneath. The leaves of the oaks are beginning to turn yellow and brown; their acorns are still sitting snuggly in the cups, but will soon turn brown and fall.
Jackie has visited many national parks and says Dartmoor feels different. She feels part of the place. She never feels alone on Dartmoor. She feels at home here. We imagine that the oak grove is like a film set and it is very much like a scene from Lord of the Rings. We can almost see the elves and dwarves sitting amongst the boulders. Our feet crunch over the fallen acorns.
Jackie seems to touch everything and I ask her if that is why she likes textiles, because they are tactile. “Definitely, ‘ replies Jackie as she strokes the spongy, soft moss on top of a boulder. I love touching things. I also love collecting things. I always have. Even when I was young,I used to collect things and make collages. For me it is about handling things. It is about touch and experiencing. For instance, when my dad mowed the lawn, I’d collect all the grass cuttings, especially the longer grasses, I enjoyed handling them. I would dry them out and make pictures on the lawn with them. I remember making a picture: an outline of a dolls’ house with people in it. We didn’t have a great deal in the 70s so you had to be resourceful. We all collected bottle tops, badges, clips, anything really. We recycled then, without even being told to. I grew up seeing lots of things as a potential for making art. I used to love walking in the woods and collecting pine cones and leaves, anything really. I loved the different feeling of things.
When did it become about textiles and sewing though? I asked.
“I used to play on my grandma’s sewing machine and I also used to hand sew. Then I taught myself to use the sewing machine. I still hand sew on my art work as well today. The machine gives me more creative scope and sometimes I layer fabrics using appliqué and that is more effective on a machine, but I often embellish with hand stitching.” She describes her fabrics as her paint and the thread as her paintbrush.
I ask Jackie why she calls some of her pieces illustrations. “Well they have a narrative. They aren’t so much about the textures, they are more about pattern and story for me.The drinks pieces are fun, but are about the words on the bottles and the pattern of the bottles, rather than texture.”
Jackie stops to touch the bright green and white lichen on a boulder,” I just love lichen. I love the way things age. I love all the tiny patterns in the lichen.”
The leat trickles happily next to us. The leaves fall in the breeze. Jackie says she has been reading the science behind the colours of the leaves changing.
We walk alongside the leat along the lane.“Look at this gorgeous little lock!” Jackie exclaims.
She seems to enjoy the manmade next to the natural. A blend of completely different textures with the wood, steel, water and hedgerow.
It appears to me that Jackie’s art sums up her joy and enthusiasm for life. The colours and textures, that spark her creativeness are represented beautifully: whether it is the shimmery fabric to give hints of light reflecting on leaves or the water, or the vibrant colour of flowers and birds. In traditional painting, different textures are represented by the mark- making, whereas in Jackie’s work the textures are shown through her choice of fabric and how she decides to lay them down and juxtapose them against other textures. She speaks about old and new several times and this is also represented in her work as she uses discarded, old fabrics and creates something new from them. She is still recycling and recreating.
As a very visual person and artist, it has been eye-opening to walk with Jackie and watch her move through nature touching everything and feeling the various textures. She soaks in the feelings and stores those feelings, ready to find the perfect fabric to represent it. Whereas, I soak in the experience, textures, colour and light more through my sight, Jackie seems to feel it upon her fingertips, and that, I think, perfectly explains why she is a textile artist and what textile art is about: feeling, touch and texture.
Jackie’s exhibition will not disappoint, it has to be experienced. I have seen some of the stunning pieces she has created. The exhibition is an exhibition of beauty and joy, it is so wonderfully uplifting and shows Dartmoor as you have never experienced it before: through Jackie’s fingertips.
One of Jackie’s beautiful creations for the exhibition- an image just doesn’t do the textures justice and needs to be experienced!
Do come and see this joyous exhibition ‘Into the Wild,’ which opens on Saturday 4th October and runs until Saturday 18th of October. Viewing is on Thursday 9 &16th, Friday 10th & 17th and Saturday, 4th, 11th &18th from 10.30am-4.30pm. If you would like to view but are unable to make those days or times, please get in touch and make an appointment by calling us on 0771 838 6580 or email: info@wildwoodartsdartmoor.co.uk
