Kurt Jackson
Biography
|
Kurt Jackson MA (Oxon) DLitt (Hon) RWA was born is 1961 in Blandford, Dorset. He graduated from St Peter’s College, Oxford with a degree in Zoology in 1983. While there, he spent most of his time painting and attending courses at Ruskin College of Art, Oxford. On gaining his degree he travelled extensively and independently, painting wherever he went. He travelled to the Arctic alone and hitched across Africa with his wife. This has given him a broad experience of environments and cultures which has enriched his work with a unique insight and an attention to detail. He moved to Cornwall in 1984 where he still lives and works.
A dedication to and celebration of the environment is intrinsic to both his politics and his art and a holistic involvement with his subjects provides the springboard for his formal innovations. Jackson's practice involves both plein air and studio work and embraces an extensive range of materials and techniques including mixed media, large canvases, print making and sculpture.
He has been Artist in Residence on the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, at the Eden Project and at Glastonbury Festival since 1999. He has an Honorary Doctorate (DLitt) from Exeter University and is an Honorary Fellow of St Peter's College, Oxford University. He is an ambassador for Survival International and frequently works with Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WaterAid, Oxfam and Cornwall Wildlife Trust. He is represented by Redfern Gallery and The Lemon Street Gallery, Truro. He is an academician at the Royal West of England Academy.
One of Britain's leading painters, Kurt Jackson's work embraces an extensive range of materials and techniques including mixed media, large canvases, relief work, print making and sculpture. He works with the following charities: Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Médicins sans Frontières, Oxfam, RNLI, Survival International and WaterAid.
Selected solo exhibitions
1984 Robinson College, Cambridge
1984 Exhibited widely through the eighties.
1986-95 North Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery.
1995-97 ‘South Crofty’, touring exhibition: Camborne School of Mines, Penzance Geological Museum.
1995-97 Plymouth City Art Gallery.
1995-97 Doncaster Museum.
1997 Darlington Art Centre.
1997 Rheda-Wiedensbrück, Germany.
1998 Messum’s, London.
1998 Twin town exchange, Concarneau Town Hall, Brittany.
1998-99 ‘Carnsew’, touring exhibition: Falmouth Art Gallery; Worcester City Art Gallery.
1998-99 Lancashire Mining Museum.
1998-99 Cornwall Geological Museum.
1998 Origin Gallery, Dublin.
1998 Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro.
1999 Messum’s, London.
1999 Origin Gallery, Dublin.
2000 Messum’s, London.
2000 Origin Gallery, Dublin.
2000 University of Exeter.
2001 Messum’s, London.
2002 Messum’s, London.
2002 ‘Delabole Slate Quarry’ touring exhibition: Penzance Geology Museum; Slate Valley Museum, New York, USA;
2002 Helen Day Art Centre, Vermont USA; Falmouth Art Gallery.
2002 RGI Kelly Gallery, Glasgow.
2002 Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh.
2002 Royal Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, Truro.
2002 Lemon Street Gallery, Truro.
2003 Messum’s, London.
2003 Glastonbury Festival charity auction, Guardian News Room, London.
2003 Lemon Street Gallery, Truro.
2004 Messum’s, London.
2004 ‘Porth’ touring exhibition: Newlyn Art Gallery; Worcester City Art Gallery; King’s Lynn Arts Centre, Norfolk.
2004 RGI Gallery, Glasgow.
2004 ‘Two Woods’, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath.
2004 Lemon Street Gallery, Truro.
2004-05 Paddington Station installation.
2005 Messum’s, London.
2005 ‘Porth’, Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter and Canterbury City Art Gallery.
2005 ‘The Painted Etchings’, Newlyn Art Gallery, Newlyn and Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh.
2005 Glastonbury Festival charity auction.
2005 ‘Three Woods’, St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington and Royal Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, Truro.
2005 Lemon Street Gallery, Truro.
2006 Messum’s, London.
2006 ‘Porth’, Catmose Art Gallery, Rutland.
2006 Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh.
2006 ‘The Thames Project’, South Hill Park, Bracknell, Berks.
2006 Lemon Street Gallery, Truro.
2007 Messum’s, London.
2007 ‘River Avon Part 1’, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath.
2007 Glastonbury Festival charity auction, The Hospital, Covent Garden.
2007 Lemon Street Gallery, Truro.
2008 Messum’s, London.
2008 ‘Wicken, a Threatened Landscape’, charity auction for Friends of the Earth, Foyles Gallery, London.
2008 ‘The Solent Project’, touring exhibition: St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington; Gosport Arts Centre, Hants;
2008 Quay Arts Centre, Isle of Wight.
2008 Lemon Street Gallery, Truro.
2008 ‘The Mining Paintings’, Geevor Mine Gallery, Cornwall.
2008 ‘Theatre Five’, charity exhibition for MSF, Royal College of Surgeons, London.
2009 Messum’s, London.
2009 Glastonbury Festival charity auction, Guardian News Room, London.
2009 ‘River Avon, Part 2’, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath.
2009 ‘Enesow: An exploration of the islands of Cornwall’, Lemon Street Gallery, Truro.
2010 ‘Ardnamurchan’, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh.
2010 Book launch and Exhibition, Osborne Samuel Gallery, Bruton Street, London.
2010 Lorient Festival, Brittany.
2010 ‘The Dart’, Lemon Street Gallery, Truro.
2010 ‘A Taste of Glastonbury’, Oxo Tower, London.
2011 ‘Kurt Jackson at 50’, Falmouth Art Gallery.
2011 ‘The Forth’, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh.
2011 'Gwedhen/Tree' Lemon Street Gallery, Truro
2011 Recent Work, The Redfern Gallery, London
2012 The Catacol Series: Paintings on Arran, Lemon Street Gallery, Truro
2012 The Fishermen's Friend, with Greenpeace, National Maritime Aquarium, Plymouth
2012 This Place: St Just-in-Penwith, Lemonstreet Gallery, Truro
Selected events & mixed exhibitions
1982 Three-man exhibition with brother & father, Maltings Gallery,Weathampstead, Herts.
1983-84 Travelled through Africa painting.
1983-84 Moved to Boscastle.
1989 Moved to St Just-in-Penwith.
1994 Rheda, Wiedensbrück, Germany.
1994-97 Penwith Society of Artists.
1994-97 City Gallery, Leicester.
1994-97 Newlyn Society of Artists & Hastings Museum.
1994-2008 Newlyn Society of Artists.
1997 & 99 Cill Riallaig, Ireland, residence.
1998 ‘A Place in My Heart’, Carlton TV.
1998 Elected Academician, Royal West of England Academy.
1998 Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance.
1998 Publication of Paintings of Cornwall and the Scillies, ISBN 0 953 137 015.
1999-2011 Glastonbury Festival, artist in residence.
2000-11 Royal West of England Academy.
2000-11 London Art Fair.
2002 Publication of The Cape, ISBN 1 850 22 172 3.
2004 ‘Elemental Insight’, Meteorological Office, Exeter.
2004 Publication of Sketchbooks 2003-2004, ISBN 1 850 22 190 1.
2004-07 Elected Chair of Newlyn Society of Artists.
2005 Artist in Residence on Greenpeace ship ‘Esperanza’.
2005 ‘Live 8’ at Eden Project, Artist in Residence.
2005 ‘Kurt Jackson, A Picture of Cornwall’, BBC1 South West.
2005 ‘Kurt Jackson, A Picture of the South West’, BBC3.
2006 Publication of Kurt Jackson – The Thames Project, ISBN 9 550 17572 3.
2006 Art Miami, USA with Lemon Street Gallery.
2006 Exhibition at Kew Gardens [mixed, charity].
2007 Presentation of paintings to Cornwall County Council collection.
2007 Awarded Honorary Doctorate for contribution to the arts by Exeter University.
2007 Residency in Treliske Hospital operating theatre, Truro.
2008 ‘Africa Calling’, Falmouth Art Gallery.
2009 Made honorary ambassador of Survival International.
2009 Publication of Kurt Jackson – The Avon Project
2010 Publication of Kurt Jackson – A New Genre of Landscape Painting
2011 Honorary Fellow, St Peter’s College, Oxford University
2011 Artist in Residence - Rainbow warrior III, Bern Shipyard, Bremen, Germany
2011 Discerning Eye, London
2012 Landscape, Redfern Gallery, London
2012 Endless Summer, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
2012 Sunday Times Watercolour competition
Public collections
Penlee House Museum, Penzance
Porthcurno Cable and Wireless Museum, Penzance
Camborne School of Mines
Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth
Royal Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, Truro
Crown Court, Truro
Cornwall University, Tremough
Truro School, Truro
Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth
Exeter University
Worcester City Museum and Art Gallery
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Lymington
Darlington Arts Centre, Darlington
Lancashire Mining Museum
Ministry of Works, Republic of Ireland
Cill Rialaig Arts Centre, Kerry, Ireland
Concarneau Town Council, Brittany
Slate Valley Museum, New York, USA
National Museum of Germany, Nurenburg
The Steiner School, Hanover
Cornwall County Council
V & A
Tate Britain
Tremough Campus, Cornwall
Oxford University
BBC
Edinburgh University
Broadcasts
1998 ‘A Place in My Heart’, Carlton TV.
2005 ‘Kurt Jackson, A Picture of Cornwall’, BBC1 South West.
2005 ‘Kurt Jackson, A Picture of the South West’, BBC 3.
2009 ‘Spring’, with Richard Mabey, BBC Radio 3.
2010 ‘Midweek’, with Libby Purvis, BBC Radio 4, 28/7/10.
2010 ‘River Dart’, BBC, ‘Spotlight’.
2010 ‘Learning Zone’, BBC 3.
2011 ‘River Dart’, BBC 1, ‘Inside Out’, 8/11/2010
2011 ‘Cornwall’s Rarest Tree’, BBC, ‘Spotlight’.
Select bibliography
Barrett, Jeff, Turner, Robin and Walsh, Andrew (eds) Caught By The River – A Collection of Words on Water, Octopus Publishing, London 2009
Benington, Jonathan, The Avon Project, Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall, 2009
Cocker, Mark, ‘Encounter: The visions of Kurt Jackson’ in The New Nature Writing, Granta, vol.102, London, 2008, pp.22–26.
Collins, Ian and Admiral Sir Jock Slater, The Lights of West Cornwall, Messum’s, London, 2008
Crace, Jim, Enesow, Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall, 2009
Cross, Tom, Catching the Wave: Art and Artists in Contemporary Cornwall, Halsgrove Publishing, Somerset, 2002
Dubois, Marc, Theatre Five, Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall, 2008
Gaskell, Ronald and Jackson, Kurt, The Cape, Truran, Cornwall, 2002
Hare, Bill, Ardnamurchan, Lemon Street Gallery, 2009
Jackson, Kurt A New Genre of Landscape Painting, Lund Humphries 2010
Jackson, Kurt, And, Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall, 2011
Jackson, Kurt, Sketchbooks, Truran, Cornwall, 2003–04
Jackson, Kurt, The Solent Project, St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Hampshire, 2008
Jackson, Kurt, Three Woods, St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, Hampshire, 2005
Livingstone, Alan and Kurt Jackson, Kurt Jackson Sketchbook, Lund Humphries. 2012
Mabey, Richard, Forest Gardens, Messum’s, London, 2009
Mallett, Francis, Paintings of Cornwall and The Scillies, White Lane Press, Devon, 1999
McCullough, Christopher and Packer, William, The Cornish Crow: An Vran Kernewek, Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall, 2007
Macfarlane, Robert, The Earth as it sees itself, Redfern Gallery, London 2011
Marsden, Philip, The Trees of Cornwall, Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall, 2011
Nixon, Giles and Wallace, Catherine, Carnsew, A Working Granite Quarry in Cornwall, Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall, 1999
O’Brien, JA, South Crofty, The Last Working Tin Mine in Cornwall, Camborne School of Mines, Cornwall, 1996
Packer, William, Caroline and the Vegetable Patch, Messum’s, London 2007
Smit, Tim, The Thames Project, Lemon Street Gallery, Truro, Cornwall, 2006
Taylor, John Russell, Porth, Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall, 2004
Think Books, Icons of England, Think Publishing, London, 2008
Warburton, Josephine, The Mining Paintings, Pendeen
Welsh, Irvine, The Black River, Lemon Street Gallery, 2011
Work
Over the brambles to the sea
A touch of Autumn, September
Isobel's vase and Isobel's blackberries, September
Evening, Autumn September
Brambles in the vase from the charity shop, September
Evening stil life September
Scilly sorrel, campion, foxglove
Mulllet fishing between Gugh and St Agnes
Western rocks, windy maze. Scilly
Gale force, St Agnes to Tresco, St Martins and St Marys
The choughs welcome me into the cove
Sweet song thrugh song, from St Agnes
Porth Warna to Western Rocks, St Agnes
Storm passing, Norrard Rocks, Scilly
Wind blow, cow moo, gull cry, Annet, Scilly
Stour, duckweed and woodpecker laugh
Alders and the Isle, hot still afternoon. July
All the thrushes and blackbirds are singing to me, St Agnes. June
One buzzard and one chough at the beginning of Autumn
A peregrine passes over the ebbing surf
Huge clouds over the Greek mainland
Tail end of a tail end of a hurricane
The sun comes out eventually
Pale evening Atlantic, quiet Conrwall
I'm down with the limpets
A cormorant flies through a green sea, the high tide moves the cove
Golden river Isle 40 degrees C
L'Isle warbler song, alder shade and fish
Black headed gull screech, flowing tide. Christchurch Harbour late afternoon. July
Autumn has arrived. September
Pelistry, Scilly. Low water
Across the Dordogne. August
Dordogne late afternoon. Fly Buzz, duck quack, frog croak
Dorddogne stillness with a woodpecker laugh
Lots of fish and a few showers. Dordogne.
Evening, Dorset. Stour mouth
Dordogne morning, frogs croak in the sun
Dordogne afternoon, red squirrels in the willows
The Dordogne murmers down stream
Afternoon rain and flowing tide. Mouth of the Stour. October
Late Bathers, Dordogne plage
Across the bay, bougainvillea, goat bells and morning sunlight, Frikes. October
Cyprus cove behind the house, Ithaca
Olive grove full of asphodels and bird song
10 pm balmy evening, duck quack. Wimborne. April 2009
Roboti, Ithaca, approaching thunderstorm
Distant Cephalonia, olive groves full of goat bells and robin song
Caddis flies and new sallow leaves from the banks of the Wimborne Stour
Snowdrops, primroses and a beer in March
Wood pigeon coo, breeze in the alder leaves. Blanford Stour, end of summer
Caddis flies mate on my painting, bird twitter and hot Spring sunshine. Wimborne Minister
Across the Stour by Blandford. Late afternoon, no flies today. August
Kynston Mill, raven honk, willow leaves fall
Blandford, summer's even with ducks
I've watched the tide go all the way out and now it is coming in again
Moorhens screech, fish plop. White Mill
Down stream from Shapwick. Swans fly over the Stour
You look down at your reflection and see the sun beneath you
Wild garden, sun and shade
|
|