It’s unusual that a self-styled “red-blooded American male” with a name like John Wayne Jackson would give props to homemaking icon Martha Stewart. Yet Jackson, a Black Mountain-based artist, attributes his life’s work to the baking and stock-trading celebrity herself. “Martha is my muse,” he says.
Some 18 years ago, a friend parked Jackson down on the sofa and coaxed him into watching a prerecorded Martha Stewart Living segment. The clip taught viewers how to make decorative concrete leaves, and despite Jackson’s previous qualms with Stewart (he had long knocked her highbrow domesticity), he went out and bought supplies the next day.
Now, his “contemporary fossils” — impressions of leaves preserved in stone composite — command art shows across the country, with 700 to 800 sculptures selling annually.
The idea is similar to a dinosaur footprint, says Jackson. He and his wife Paige venture through timberland and tamer suburban thoroughfares looking for veiny, textured leaves. Places like The Huntington Library in San Marino, California, let the couple “run wild” in their specimen gardens, as did a Portland woman harboring 10-foot Gunnera fronds in her backyard. Jackson did once buy a plant for its leaves, he admits.
Once back in the 3,000-square-foot studio — a business-park unit sharing walls with wine distributors and foam wholesalers — Jackson fights rot and wilt by forming a cast. From that cast comes a rubber mold sensitive enough to “detect a fingerprint,” he says, but durable enough to create 500 duplicates or “pulls.” (He’s harboring a seven-foot leaf in his studio right now; all larger pieces are limited to 100 or fewer editions.)
Of the 120 silicon templates in inventory, there’s what Paige memorably calls the “beverage collection” — cabernet and wild grape vines, plus a hop leaf plucked from neighboring Pisgah Brewing Company. There’s also pumpkin, wild raspberry, small water lilies, and, because of proximity, Blue Ridge oaks and maples. Jackson is also raising $6,000 to make a rubber mold for a lofty, 400-pound sculpture. The piece is a fossilized replication of the Gunnera leaves he spotted years back.
He takes a back seat to the majesty of nature, commenting rhetorically: “I’m only half the artist, because I’m presented with perfection. How do you improve on perfection?”
Jackson’s color palettes do deviate from Mother Nature’s realism, however. Since green leaves abound, but “things that match your sofa” are a bit harder to find, Jackson sprays final sculptures with a vivid urethane sealant. Some get the “Jerry Garcia” coating — a tie-dye gesture — and others the “Seaside” shading: a turquoise-heavy style that resonates with Florida clients.
Predisposed to “changing things up,” Jackson refers to the Pantone chart for trending swatches. Of course, there’s also the Martha Stewart Living paint collection.
“I don’t claim to be an artist at heart. Nor do I claim that the art comes out of me. That’s too self-serving,” Jackson says. He deserves a Ph.D. for tenacity born of randomness, though. “It was just a flukey thing where I saw Martha, and then went with it.”
Imagine That! Creations is located at 104 Eastside Drive, Unit 501, in Black Mountain. John Wayne Jackson takes custom orders and can be contacted at 480-528-6775.
Just a note…John has a massive exhibit at Seven Sisters Gallery. 117 Cherry Street. All work is for sale.