Kurt Jackson and the River Dart

There's a great audio interview in The Guardian with Kurt Jackson about his new series of paintings about the River Dart in The Guardian.  If you click the link and press start you can hear it above a slideshow of photographs of his current exhibition Kurt Jackson - The Dart which is on at the Lemon Street Gallery in Truro until 2nd October

The Dart is a new exhibition by the renowned West Cornwall-based artist Kurt Jackson that tells the story of the artist's detailed exploration of the River Dart in Devon. Jackson talks to John Vidal about his love for the countryside, from the barren, windswept moorland to the untouched ancient woodland. 

It started in 2009 and appears to have been developing over the last year or so.  This time he has gone from sea to source.

Up above the West Dart with the willow warblers July 2010
Mixed media 56 x 60.5cm
copyright Kurt Jackson

What I love about the paintings is they've captured all those tangles and tunnels which you often get with rivers when they're a bit smaller.  Plus the sheets of reflected light which is how I always remember the Dart.

I like the way that looking at the way he paints makes me think more about the way I construct work.

His exhibition includes drawings and paintings of plants which remind me a bit of Charles Rennie Mackinstosh's work at Walberswick

On exhibition at the Lemon Street Gallery

I think one of things I love most is the double dose of nature that I get every time I look at his work and read his essays

Ring ouzel, high brown fritillary, southern damselfly, bog hoverfly, marsh fritillary, Dartford warbler, southern marsh orchid, goshawk, salmon, spotted heath orchid, lamprey, marsh violet, hen harrier, sea trout, otter, osprey, eel grass, cornish moneywort, blue ground beetle, nightjar, small-leafed lime, wood warbler, greater horseshoe bat, red grouse, alder buckthorn, keeled skimmer, wood ant, goosander, cirl bunting.

Here are more links to details about the exhibition for all Kurt Jackson fans. I do like the trouble the Lenon Street Gallery goes to show off the work of its artists properly.

Kurt Jackson - The Dart

• View the exhibition >>
• View the thumbnails >>
• view the essay >>
• view the publication >> This flipbook allows you to see the paintings at a much larger scale
• view the Artist's Book >>