Story & Lesson Highlights with EE Jacks of Pacific Northwest

We recently had the chance to connect with EE Jacks and have shared our conversation below.

EE, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
Definitely wandering

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Jacks. Professionally, I am known as E.E. Jacks. These days, I do a bit of this and that, though some primarily call me a painter. I find myself drawn to the prosaic as well. I am currently working on a book of prose titled: “Verify you are Human.”

My art has been moving toward contrast and introspection. I see the world as a chaotic and wild place. I say this with great affection for both nature and my fellow man. For I don’t truly believe there is anything genuinely balanced in life, only ebbs and flows.
I am currently working on a series of larger pieces. These works will speak to the volatility I feel at the moment and will stylistically lean toward the abstract, though they will remain mostly figurative.

My muses are the people and places around me. I notice moments of meaning all the time which is both exhausting and exhilarating. I try to infuse that energy into my work, though I mostly aim to paint with as little on my mind as possible.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
This question makes me laugh because the world tells everyone who they should be before they’ve even had a chance to simply be. I am a female, and first and foremost, there are a whole lot of requirements handed to you on a large platter to ingest as a human female.
When I was young, I always questioned the vast differences in how people were treated based on gender or outward appearance. To this day, I find it cruel to treat people as vessels for entire ideologies. I suppose I was nothing before the world told me who I had to be. After I heard the voice of the world telling me to be this or that, I immediately disregarded it.

I have always disliked being told what to do. Some would call this a kind of rebellion, but I think I simply require vast amounts of freedom, particularly of the mind, to survive. I reject any notion that human beings need to be told who they are, as that idea is closely tied to the value we assign to one another.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I am familiar with a degree of suffering, I suppose, but it’s all relative. Physical pain can be debilitating, and I have my fair share of it health wise from time to time. I wouldn’t exactly call it a teacher. It can destroy your ability to think clearly, and it can also force you to focus on your mortality, to consider time in seconds. The latter part of that is what drives me on occasion.

I feel like creating almost all the time, but I can’t always keep doing what my mind wants to do. Taking mental breaks from continuous decision making (which is what much of art creation is) gives me more time to dream up even more projects for myself. So, it becomes an endless cycle of self sabotage. I like it. The pushing.
I don’t mind the suffering as much as I fear how it might change me or how it could affect the way I treat those around me, and how it might touch more lives than my own. As for success, well I don’t think about life or myself in that sort of way. I am just existing and perhaps changing as life drips on. To struggle is to be born.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I am committed to learning. It is very difficult for me to slow down my seeking, searching, and learning about artists, both modern and old.
I recently learned that the artist Bonheur kept a menagerie of animals at her home in order to study their anatomy and nature up close. One can learn a myriad of things, both technical and personal by observing the work of other artists. I discovered that Vollon’s Mound of Butter is one of the most emotional still lifes I’ve ever encountered.
According to art critic Plasschaert, the still life is “the smallest mirror in which painters reflect their own faces and see them reflected.” I agree.
I have also learned from and loved the great Twombly’s works, and I am committed to delving even deeper into his art.
The natural world is also something I wish to study. Geology, rocks, caves, and fossils have always fascinated me. The idea of time and absence, atmosphere and movement, creating such formations, absolutely captivates me. This kind of study will no doubt be a lifelong endeavor, as will my fascination with the great works of countless poets, actors, and musicians.
I am also deeply interested in my ancestors and my family. In the relatives from both my mother’s and father’s sides whom I’ve never met. Their stories, behaviors and lives hold great meaning for me.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope people will tell their own stories. Perhaps mine might be mildly interesting to some, but I suppose each epoch has its own validity and importance in terms of lessons for our future selves.
Once upon a time, I rolled out of a moving car. I survived, obviously. I’ve also had my dabblings in a cult, (not by choice) which was supremely stifling. I’ve been lucky enough to experience an incredible art colony of like minded individuals and have been able to create alongside them.
I’ve experienced great love and loss and feel deeply for those around me. Maybe the story is that we must hold each other’s hands when loss comes, when the shadows are darkest and the sun is at its lowest. People should remember that on the other side of the world, after your sun has set, the birds are still chirping.
I hope my poetry and artistic catalogue of the world can capture a bit of that feeling and hope as Dickinson did.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eejacks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eejacksart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ee-jacks-1ba4663/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eejacksart/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7gAf-9TnKGCK0nTnFxbaxQ

Image Credits
Artist Image: Jet Orca Production