Surf Wood for Good

For Surfers Against Sewage.
“Like anyone of my generation the sight and feel of one of these plywood body boards takes you straight back to childhood. In my case to the 60’s and 70’s on Polzeath and Trebarwith beaches with friends and family. Plywood is also something I paint on often – wood panels of sustainable birch ply; for my seascapes and landscapes and logically that's what I had to do with this board. I also added a few layers of the beach itself – pebbles and sand from three favourite foreshores in Cornwall and then some of that fishing industry rope that seems to be the curse of our tidelines, tangled around the rocks and in the weed– ‘tied by the tide’. A big sea, plenty of weather, the mordros on the wind, the sun showing itself, what could be better?" Kurt Jackson 2022

Kurt Jackson
Kurt Jackson is a British artist and dedicated environmentalist. Jackson’s holistic approach to his subject seamlessly blends art and politics providing a springboard to create a hugely varied body of work unconstrained by format or scale. Jackson's artistic practice ranges from his trademark visceral plein-air sessions to studio work and embraces an extensive range of materials and techniques including mixed media, large canvases, print-making and sculpture. 

The son of artists, Jackson was born in Blandford, Dorset in 1961. While studying Zoology at Oxford University he spent most of his time painting and attending courses at Ruskin College of Art. On gaining his degree he travelled extensively and independently, painting wherever he went before putting down roots in Cornwall with his wife Caroline in 1984. 

A dedication to and celebration of the environment is intrinsic to both his politics and his art; a holistic involvement with his subject informs his formal innovations. Jackson’s focus on the complexity, diversity and fragility of the natural world has led to artist-in-residencies on the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, the Eden Project and the Glastonbury Festival.  

Over the past thirty years Jackson has had numerous art publications released to accompany his exhibitions. Jackson regularly contributes to radio and television and presents environmentally informed art documentaries for the BBC. He was the subject for an award-winning BBC documentary, ‘A Picture of Britain’

Website: www.kurtjackson.com
Instagram: @jacksonfgallery