Meet the Artist // Jacqueline Huskisson

Good afternoon Jacqueline, thank you for having me in your studio at GlogauAIR. 

Can you tell us how you started your artistic journey? 

I started painting and drawing when I was a kid, at first as a competition with my sister, to see who would be better at it. I guess I professionally started when I went to the Alberta College of Art and Design (now called AUArts because it got University status). I graduated in 2011 with a degree in print media. From there I didn’t do as much for the few following years. I don’t think my career really went off until I graduated from my Master’s in 2017, from the Belfast School of Art. Since then I’ve been doing a lot of residencies in Europe, in Canada, and doing exhibitions around Canada. 

How would you describe your practice? 

Right now I call myself an interdisciplinary artist. I started off with printmaking but it was more because I wanted to learn a specific skills set. Even though I love print! I would say I’m interested in exploring the human body, the human form, our relation to the Earth, everything around us and how we react to everything around us, the narrative of the self… I do a lot of different kinds of work, like painting, drawing, printmaking, comics, and I’m starting to break into sculpture. I’ve done a lot of media work as well. 

You’ve been working with many different mediums, is there a medium in particular you would like to explore further during your time at GlogauAir? 

I would like to work more with sculpture! I’m trying to make kilts, fabrics, and maybe some sculpture castings. I started already a bit when I was back home, but not very extensively. I’d like to use my time here to really develop a new narrative, but also incorporating elements that were in my paintings and making them 3D. I think that would be really cool. 

What are your inspirations for your project here? 

Right now I’m inspired by the concept of “home”, from my latest few projects back home. I’m also inspired by the narrative of the self, like dealing with illness, and many other things. I want to create new narratives, because I feel like I didn’t have my own folklore growing up, and I would like to establish my own folklore in a way. I’m asking myself, “what is my folklore, compared to my home, to my culture?”. It felt strange growing up in a mix of different cultures, like “What is your own? What is it to be a Canadian?”. I am here to kind of investigate family ties, but also create my own narrative, using pop culture and referencing witchcraft, as I was very interested in this as a kid. 

It’s interesting that you are working on the theme of “home”, and yet you are moving so much for residencies. Do you think the city of Berlin in particular has an influence on your work? 

I think so! For me “home” isn’t necessarily a place where you grew up, it could be a state of mind, or people you surround yourself with. My family is from Germany, so it was a place I wanted to come back to, to explore a little more. I really love Berlin for its art influence, comics culture, and its ability to let you do what you want freely; so I really wanted to come here to explore and experience the German art scene. 

Besides the city of Berlin, what motivated you to apply for a residency at GlogauAIR? 

A friend recommended GlogauAIR to me. I really like that it is in a nice popular area, that you get your own studio and you also get to live in it, and the opportunity to meet lots of different international artists. I thought it would be really fun.