Sweeping beaches, dappled seascapes, crashing waves – Torquay’s Jacki Burke tells LUKE VOOGT how her move to the coast inspired her art.
The secrets of art exist to be shared, says Torquay painter Jacki Burke.
Jacki is more than happy to share skills with contemporaries, unlike artists who jealously guard techniques from rivals.
“There are enough walls in the world to hang everybody’s art, as far as I’m concerned,” she declares.
“I love people having success.”
Jacki teaches painting and recently celebrated opening Surf Coast Gallery.
“It’s like a dream come true for me to have this,” she says
“It’s been a long time and it’s just sort of manifested.”
The 54-year-old grew up and spent most her life in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs before moving to Torquay three years ago.
“We just love the beach, we walk it every day,” she says.
“It really is a part of my inspiration.”
Jackie fell in love with art as a child, “surrounded by colour” on a trip to the National Gallery of Victoria.
The gallery’s paintings and its mosaic ceiling enchanted her.
“I just was lying on the carpet staring up full of wonder,” she says.
The love continued, though Jacki never took formal art classes. Her family never had the money to put her through university, she says.
“Art school wasn’t really that important in my family – it was just get out and get a job.”
Working in administration, retail and for people with a disability, Jacki would get in front of the canvas as often as she could.
Primarily self-taught, she sought out professional artists – like Archibald winner Garry Shead.
“I always think the right teacher will cross your path when you’re ready to for them to,” she says
Her marriage in 1981 gave her some more time to explore her art, she says.
“I did my first oil painting when I was pregnant with my son 30-odd years ago.”
Her art picked-up when the last of her children “packed up and left” their North Ringwood house five years ago.
“I was just more focussed that’s all it was,”
Two years later, she won Ringwood Art Society’s Artist of the Year which was the “final trigger” to paint full-time.
“That was the moment I said ‘You know what? I can paint so get on with it’,” she says.
Ironically, it was recent art classes which motivated Jacki to teach. Originally, she started lessons to meet new people and sharpen her skills.
“I don’t think you ever stop learning,” she says
“If I learn just thing I’ve got my money’s worth.”
That was until classmates started to notice her work.
“They would say ‘How do you do that? I want to paint like that’,” she says.
Jacki says fantastic local artists, like Lianne Gough and Janne Kearney, inspire her teaching, which is “about helping people find their own style”.
“A painting is really about them being in their own space – everyone needs colour in their life,” she says.
Painting is a compulsion for Jacki.
“I can’t not paint,” she says.
She paints impressionistic shapes, predominantly landscapes, which come to life before the beholder.
Rather than imitating “photographs”, she says, her impressions “morph” into different objects depending on the viewer.
“I let the eye find what it wants in the painting. Everybody sees something different in it – that’s what gets me going.”
“I can paint photos too – people certainly will buy them – but that’s not where I get my joy.”
Jacki also teaches resin art, which is “much less predictable than paint”.
“It’s expensive, messy and addictive,” she says.
“It’s not a cheap workshop but I can’t keep up with the demand of them.”
It’s important to support local artist, says Jacki.
“Don’t buy art from dead people, buy it from the living. They need the money.”
