Artist Interview: Jackie Diesing
We had a pleasure chatting with Jackie about her wanting to be an architect from an early age, representation of flowers as a symbol of hope, and turning rejection into inspiration. Jackie is one of the first few people to get interviewed for All SHE Makes, and we are so happy to have her. Enjoy Jackie’s brief bio before diving into our interview.
“From a young age, I was perfectly content as long as I had something to draw with in my hand. I’m always creating something.
Having grown up in a suburb of Detroit, surrounded by historic old homes, I was in awe of their beauty. It inspired me in many ways, to always be drawing, trying to recreate their beauty or design the perfect home, to take lots of extra-curricular art classes, to go to architecture school, and to rediscover my love of art after getting well settled into my architecture career. During frequent trips home to metro Detroit to visit family and friends, I would often pass by these beautiful old buildings crumbling in on themselves and imagine them restored to their former beauty. Those moments fueled the idea to capture the building in their current state and surround them with life growing around them. For me, there is beauty in the ruins.
The artwork for sale are all mixed-media prints created from freehand micron ink and soft pastel drawings.
I graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Architecture and currently live in Chicago, where I work as a full-time architect. I enjoy spending my free time making art and taking dance classes.”
ASM: You talk about having interest in architecture from an early age. Is there a specific memory that sticks out?
My Mom says she remembers me coming home from school one day in the third grade and telling her I wanted to be an architect. She was like “great, we don’t know any architects,” so she wasn’t sure where I got the idea from, but fully supported it. Most of my classmates’ parents worked in medicine, law, worked for one of the big three car companies, or owned a business of some sort. So, I had no real exposure to the profession until I went to college. But, I have several uncles who work in the trades and have building/construction experience.
I also know the architecture of the community I grew up in played a role in my desire to be an architect. I’m from a suburb located just north of Detroit, called Grosse Pointe. Many of the homes there are 100-150 years old. At some point, I started noticing the different architectural styles and the level of detail on the historic homes. In elementary school, I remember I had a book of builder type homes in different styles that I would reference for drawing inspiration. I would draw hybrids of what I saw in those books and borrow a part of one building and combine it with another. I’d also study the floor plans and draw what I thought was an improved layout or the layout of my “dream home.”
ASM: Your appreciation for architecture is clearly communicated through your work, especially through the strong meticulous (and absolutely stunning) detail. Having lived in different cities, does your approach to art changed based on your location? What kind of inspiration do you get from Chicago landscapes, and how does your perception of it differ from Detroit, if at all?
Thank you very much for the compliment! I’ve definitely been inspired by both cities in different ways, but my experiences in the two cities also complement one another. I’m coming up on my 14th year of living in Chicago and this city has connected me with so many different designers and artists. I’ve also lived in several neighborhoods with beautifully preserved historic homes. Walking around Chicago and seeing 100-plus year old homes in mint condition enhanced by charming landscape design, resulting in flourishing neighborhoods, led me to envision the same for Detroit.
Detroit’s architecture has inspired me to see what’s possible from a renovation/restoration standpoint. The crumbling architecture can be found in both cities (and across the globe), but it is more prevalent throughout the city rather than in concentrated areas. It is not uncommon to see a building in ruins in Detroit next to a fully renovated home in the same neighborhood as a top restaurant and other cultural attractions. The juxtaposition is what interests me.
ASM: What led to the depiction of botanicals in your work?
Similar to my love of architecture from a young age, I’ve always loved flowers. My parents both loved gardening when they were younger and so did my grandma and several of my aunts. I learned a lot about different types of flowers and where they grow best from observing them working in their gardens. As I got older, my parents willingly let me add my own personal touch to their yard by introducing other types of flowers. I’d imagine how different flowers blooming at various points in the season could complement the existing flowers in the garden. I love color and thinking about a palette that works together, so this was one more way to express my inner artist/designer ideas. One of my goals is to curate my own home garden one day. However, I do like a bit of an unruly garden, nothing overly manicured.
Overall, flowers represent a symbol of hope for me. They’re a reminder of all the wonderful things to come as spring shows us the earth renewing itself. As the season progresses into summer, plants continue to grow and new plants emerge, creating a lush and lively environment. When it came to this series of work, I imagined the botanicals enveloping these architectural ruins and giving them the missing life force they need to restore them to their former beauty. I’m very passionate about restoration and seeing the potential to improve a home, a community, an experience, etc.
ASM: Is there a specific era or timeline of architectural history you find yourself revisiting in your art?
I tend to find myself drawing architecture from over 100 years ago. It’s the detail that I’m drawn to. That type of construction just isn’t done today due to cost reasons, timeline issues and the lack of skilled craftsman. It’s funny because when I went to architecture school, I wanted to be a pure modernist. And while I still love modern architecture and definitely feel it has its place, I’ve swung back in the other direction with an appreciation for historical gems. Honestly, I like a hybrid of everything. I love historic buildings with modern interiors or a modern addition. With my art, I love combining hard-lined, black inked, detailed, architectural drawings with soft, flowy, colorful, floral drawings. Inanimate v. animate. Two elements that can exist in harmony together. When it comes to design and art, everything has its time, place and purpose.
ASM: We are strong believers that the more people discuss failure, the less significant the possibility of it becomes. In our society, we are so terrified of possibility of something not working out, that it halts all our efforts to begin with. We ask all of our interviewees if they can share a time where something (a project or opportunity) did not work out and how did you move forward?
Yes, this is so important! Don’t let yourself get stuck on “failure!” It’s come up many times in both of my careers (as an architect and an artist). Failure or rejection causes us to pivot and pivoting usually forces us onto another path, which ends up being exactly where we’re meant to be.
Some moments of failure in my life include being laid-off from my first job in architecture after graduating from college. The firm I worked for closed during the recession after years of lay-offs and I found myself unemployed for 1.5 years before landing another architecture job. Most of my graduating class from architecture school switched careers. I thought about switching to speech pathology (my sister was studying it at the time and it sounded like a very stable choice.) I took a biology course as a prerequisite and even toured the Speech Path department at Rush University in Chicago. I remember waiting at the bus stop after to head home and realizing this was totally wrong for me. I’m a creative person (and that’s not to say medicine doesn’t have creative elements), but I needed to return to the type of work that restores me and that’s drawing. That was 2011 and that’s when I started drawing again, just for me.
Some other moments of failure include many rejections from open call applications. Last year, I applied to 24 exhibitions, magazines and art features and only got accepted to 4. It can be crushing to be rejected, especially when all of those applications are time consuming and expensive. However, I reminded myself that it was an accomplishment to apply to those 24 open calls. That’s a body of work right there! And it’s not all lost. It’s a skill to apply to an open call and something that I will hopefully refine over time. Every experience has an impact on where you are today. I know there are some business skills I’ve learned from working as an architect that have had a positive impact on my art business.
I celebrate the fact that I didn’t let those 20 rejections get to me and stop me from applying to future open calls because I wouldn’t have gained this featured artist interview opportunity with All SHE Makes! It may sound cheesy, but I love reading a great success story after years of struggle. One that comes to mind is J.K.Rowling. She was rejected by 12 publishers. Thankfully, she persevered and Harry Potter will forever be a part of literary history.
To combat the negative feelings of rejection and to find inspiration in general, I turn to the discussions on creative podcasts. Some of my favorites include the Art and Cocktails, Don’t Keep Your Day Job, I Like Your Work, Second Life, Marie Forleo and Goal Digger podcasts. Over and over, I’ll hear stories of success that came after years and years of putting in the work (and rejection). Haven’t heard any overnight success stories yet.
ASM: Any events, projects, or exhibits you'd like to share with the audience?
In the beginning of February, I took over Carve Out Time For Art’s (@carveouttimeforart) Instagram page for a day. It was amazing to connect with other artists from all over the world. I love making new connections and learning about others’ experiences. Plus, I love to travel and think it would be fantastic to meet up with other artists in their hometown. The best way to learn about a new place, in my opinion, is from the people who live there. In addition to being accepted as a member of All SHE Makes’ online directory (thank you again!), I was also accepted to Carve Out Time for Art’s online directory. So appreciative of both of these opportunities. It’ll be great exposure for my work.
I’m currently working on some new pieces to add to my architectural and botanical inspired mixed media collection of work. For a creative challenge, I recently revisited my love of ceramics. I haven’t worked in this medium since high school, which is about 20 years for me! I decided to stop by a local pottery studio during their drop-in hours and it was like a fire ignited within me. I was so immersed in what I was doing that I blew through the 3 hours of open studio time, but the studio didn’t mind and let me stay to finish up my project. It was such a fun experience to switch up my medium and return to an old love (even if drawing is my first love). Studio instructors and other artists were stopping by intrigued by what I was doing, which made me feel like I found a creatively collaborative gem of a studio. I’m buzzing with inspiration this year!
