Artist of the Month 2022

My artist for June is another printmaker, this time from Somerset. A very different style to my first printmaker (flip through the pages this year to find him). I feel extremely lucky and privileged to get this lady to agree to participate because she was so busy last year when I asked she couldn’t manage it. Printmakers rarely are online for long as their craft demands time consuming processes. So I hope you enjoy this rare treat as much as I do.

Jackie Curtis

Jackie Curtis is an artist and printmaker inspired by the natural world. She can often be found walking on the Somerset Levels observing the landscape and birds, sketch book and camera in hand; looking for materials and ideas to use in her printmaking.

Jackie works from her Somerset studio using relief techniques. Her monoprints are spontaneous, lively innovative prints often created as an immediate response to recent experiences. The collagraphs, produced from a collage of materials, are rich in texture and depth of tone.

Dawn Lift Off
Damp misty morning
Ochre and umber draped with slate grey
Reedbed chatter like running water
Hawks wait
Waves of birds stir and shuffle
Black tide creeps forward
Lift off roars
Explosions of starlings blacken the sky
Streaming overhead twisting on the wind
Followed by a curtain of silence
Tranquillity restored

Linocuts are more intricate and stylised with strong elements of pattern, whilst her woodblocks are influenced by natural grain, shape and flaws in the wood. Recent work includes en plein air printmaking creating blocks outside from foraged materials and using a portable press on location.

Visitors are welcome by appointment to Jackie’s studio in Bawdrip; please email jcurtisart@btinternet.com or ring 01278 685911.

She is a member of the Chandos Society of Artists and participates annually in Somerset Art Weeks. To keep up to date with recent work and forthcoming exhibitions please follow @jcurtisart on Twitter or see http://www.jcurtisart.com.