Meet Jacquelynn Perkins | Artist – Painter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jacquelynn Perkins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jacquelynn, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I am an artist who was born in Denver and grew up in Longmont in the 1980’s. A childhood with the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop, a love of nature and wildlife was infused within me. I shape vivid, whimsical palettes into nourishing environments. I juxtapose women with wild animals to highlight the role the feminine spirit plays in intertwining these threads, and to show we are indelibly animals of nature.

When I was a year old my parents started a company – Woodley Waterbeds. The creative, entrepreneurial energy that buzzed through my upbringing sparked an inventive drive within me and perspective of possibility. From the furniture design to the marketing the creativity of it all enthralled me. That little company building waterbeds in Longmont grew into Woodley’s Fine Furniture, still building in the same factory location as 1979. The smell of sawdust still gets my creativity flowing.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I weave an intricate and captivating tapestry of emotional resilience, feminine energy, and human connection through paint on canvas.I graduated in 2002 from the Rhode Island School of Design, including a year in RISD’s European Honors Program in Rome, Italy. This experience instilled a profound respect for art history within me. I imbue my canvases with an emotional depth, capturing the nuance of the human experience, and challenging the traditional masculine gaze of the female figure in oil. My work invites viewers into her intimate moments of shared humanity offering a foothold into her most vulnerable and personal experiences. Art has saved me in the face of personal adversity many times. As an artist who has lived through the trials of addiction, depression, and severe chronic illness. Searching for years for a diagnosis left me housebound for 2 years and then bed bound for a year and a half. When I couldn’t do anything else, not even touch my fingers together because of pain, I could loosely hold a brush and disappear from the nightmare I was in. I channel my experiences into my creative practice, a reciprocal act of breathing new life between myself and the canvas. I have learned that I believe creative expression is essential to the human soul. I have learned that art will grow with love just like anything will. This spirit of resilience and determination animates my art, infusing my work with a tangible, emotional richness. My hope is that my paintings serve as poignant reminders of the power and strength that lies within us all.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love my home state of Colorado! The variety of restaurants, outdoor activities, museums, and galleries seems infinite. A couple favorite places in Longmont are Cavegirl Cafe for yummy breakfast burritos and Wonder for avocado cacao mousse. We could head up to the mountains through Lyons and wander.

Denver is full of museums, I would try to see the Denver Art Museum, Denver Museum of Contemporary Art and the Clyfford Still Museum, maybe in one day, although I could spend a day in each! Maybe visit a kombucha tasting room.

I love getting a matcha in my hometown of Loveland at Dark Heart Coffee and then go back up the mountains via 34 to a small mountain park right on the Big Thompson River. It is just 15 minutes from our house, a favorite place of mine with the roaring river and a tiny Nature Cabin Museum.

Museums, nature, art and food.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My sister Andrea Dratch, actor and performance artist. She and I work in different mediums with intertwining concepts. We can generate so much creativity between us, sometimes without words. She is my muse, in most of the paintings of this current series “Self Portraits of My Sisters.” She is a constant support of me and my work and I am grateful everyday for a sister who is a creative comrade and friend. I will debut this new work at my upcoming solo show “Rebellious At Heart” at Artworks Contemporary Center of Art in Loveland April 12 to May 13. I am honored to have Andrea’s performance art, both live and as a film “Shame On Me”, premiering in this exhibition. You don’t want to miss it! Closing Reception is May 10 4-9 pm.

Website: www.jacquelynnperkins.com

Instagram: @jackieperkie

Image Credits
Jacquelynn Perkins