Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Leishman
Jackie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have always loved to make things with my hands. My mom set up a studio for me in the basement as a kid. I took art in high school, but I was a “smart kid” and people never really promoted art or took art seriously where I grew up. It wasn’t until college and specifically when I studied abroad in Paris that I really understood that aspect of myself. I wanted to create. I think with my feelings and understood art in such a visceral way. It is hard to explain but it just clicked. I finished my degree from the University of Georgia in International Business and then went on to get an MFA from the Academy of Art in San Francisco. From that point on, I made art. I taught art in universities and now teach at a private high school. My studio is at my house and I work there as much as possible. There are things I must make or at least figure out and that is my space to do that.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t exactly been smooth or fraught with struggle. It has been what it has been. The biggest things to work out were how to keep making art while raising three children; how to carve out space for myself both physically and mentally so I could create. How to make connections with others in the art world while most of my time is spent in a small community on the outskirts of LA. But those are good issues to solve or struggle with. I know when I read and learn about other artists that it was all or nothing, you sacrificed everything for your art, that was what was expected. I am trying to build a beautiful, full life, and being an artist is a large part of that, but it also is not everything. These other parts of my life bring richness to the work.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work is an evolving exploration of paradox and possibility, inspired by nature, rooted in mixed media, where I find a rich “in-between space” that allows me to probe the boundaries between the seen and unseen, the tangible and the experienced. This way of working was born from my time as a photographer. The heart of the work is based in photography, even though no photographs remain. With photography what one chooses NOT put in is as important as what is put in. What’s left out is still pressing in. It isn’t seen but felt.
Working with thread, paint, ink, paper, and found materials, I create pieces that exist at the intersection of various disciplines. I begin with familiar forms—still life, landscape, or figure –as points of departure. Just as I did with photography, I see what already exists in the world, and in my studio, then choose what to leave out and what to leave in. I seek for my work to always has something tangible, some element or idea I can really fight and wrestle with. Playing with how far it can go, and it still has the thing that centers it, even if it wants to be pushed off into something else. I love the fragility of it almost tipping but holding firm. It is both/and.
My work became more known with my Yosemite series. Leanne Ford used a lot of my drawings from that series in her projects. I love that my work is used by a lot of designers for their projects and increasingly art advisors are presenting my work to their clients as they help them build art collections. I recently completed my largest piece as a commission for a lobby in Atlanta. It is 13.5 x 27 feet. Making a collage that large was difficult and I loved every minute of it.
I think people are drawn to my large-scale abstracted landscapes. They love the scale of seeing a collage that size. I also think it is because my work is more akin to painting than most typical collage work.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
One thing that might surprise people is if I could have a second life, I would be a dancer, mixing hip hop and modern. And another thing, I am always trying to find a way to make my work more sculptural.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jackieleishman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jleishmanart/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackie.leishman.5/
Image Credits
Images of artist by Nathaniel Phelps-de Gala
All other images courtesy of the artist.
