Diana Jackson

There’s no better way to wake up than to open your eyes and be eager to dive into a day of work where creative opportunities abound and possibilities are endless. I feel blessed. I live and work from a spectacular setting on the Mississippi River next to the Blakeney Rapids in Mississippi Mills, Ontario, Canada.

Whether a day of stimulating creativity, hands immersed in clay, painting, or perhaps forming silver, I am never bored.

My time is split between sculptural pursuits in clay, cement and silver. I love the variety.

Everything feeds my artwork. Diplomas in Electro-Mechanical design and Landscape design have given me a broad arsenal of skills and a solid design sense. However, it’s the natural world around me that not only feeds my soul but offers up endless inspiration.

I’ve taken many workshops and classes over the years learning directly from artists in their studios and more formal university settings but ultimately there is nothing like diving into the medium to learn.

Exhibitions, Workshops, Presentations

  • 2008 R.Tait McKenzie museum gallery exhibit

  • 2022/2023 Summer Studio Workshops on the Mississippi River

  • 2021 Thoburn Mill lobby gallery exhibit

  • 2016 Figureworks St.Bridgid’s Centre for Arts, juried; First Sister

  • 2016 Marianne Van Silfhout Gallery – Art and Soul; Soul Sisters

  • 2014 Transitions, Shenkman Arts Centre, Group show put on by Fusion Clay and Glass Association

  • 2013-2017 Perth Dignity House hospice workshops in Clay and jewelry making

  • 2013 Ottawa Potters Guild presentation on pit and saggar firing

  • 2012 Ottawa Airport Gallery, Ottawa, ON, Photography

  • 2011 Gallery 115, University of Ottawa, group exhibit, Ottawa, ON

  • 2010 Penland, Ultra Figuration, group exhibit, North Carolina

  • 2009 The Herb Garden Gallery, Ramsay, ON

  • 2008-2023 Crown and Pumpkin Artists studio tour

  • 2008 R.Tait McKenzie museum gallery exhibit

  • 2007 Fitzgeralds Restaurant and gallery, Almonte, ON

Galleries

  • 2013 – Present Carleton Place Gallery, CarletonPlace, ON

  • 2023 – Present General Fine Craft Gallery, Almonte, Ontario

  • 2013 – Present The Stairwell Gallery in Historic Old Post Office, Almonte, ON

  • 2008 – 2023 R.Tait McKenzie museum gallery, on site at the Mill of Kintail

Awards

  • 2016 Marianne Van Silfhout Gallery – first place, Art and Soul; Soul Sisters

Professional Experience

From 1981 to the present day I have been a self-employed artist and designer:

  • sculptural artist in ceramics, metals and concrete

  • workshop instructor

  • landscape design

  • electro-mechanical design

  • computer aided design instructor

Education: Institutions

  • 2012-2013 Fusion Mentorship Program with Lita Cormier

  • 2009-2011 Ottawa University, part-time courses in the BFA discipline,Sculpture, Photography, Media and Painting

  • 1999-2011 Ottawa school of Art, Haliburton School of Arts various workshops (see workshops listed below)

  • 2010 Penland School of Craft, 8 week concentration in figurative ceramics

  • 2008 Australia National University via Red Deer College, distance ceramics program run by Janet Deboos

  • 1996 University of Guelph, Diploma in Landscape Design

  • 1981 Algonquin College, Diploma in Design and Drafting

Education: Artists & Workshops

  • 2010 Peter King, architectural ceramics

  • 2010 Tom Bartel, figurative sculpture, surface finishes

  • 2010 Christina Cordova, figurative sculpture

  • 2009 Steve Kornher, sculptural architecture in cement

  • 2009 Alison Brannen, saggar fired ceramics

  • 2009 Dale Dunning, bronze casting

  • 2008 Jeroen Bechtold, slip casting

  • 2008 Gail Nichols, glaze making

  • 2008 Mark Jaroszewicz, Fusion Conference, processing clay

  • 2008 Barbara VanSickle, Fusion Conference, Raku

  • 2008 Jim Thomson, hand built ceramics

  • 2007 Alison Brannen, saggar fired ceramics

  • 2007 Tim Storey, hand built ceramics

  • 2007 Chris Snedden, print on clay

  • 2006 Wouterina Riana De Raad, large scale cement sculpture

  • 2006 Eric Serritella, wheel thrown ceramics