Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Darla Jackson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Darla, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
I am someone who is very happy as an artist (despite the fact that my work is sometimes about very heavy emotions.) I enjoy the flexibility within my schedule because creativity can look a little different every day. Because I teach, I have some structure and semblance of a regular job but it still offers the opportunity for problem solving and creativity that I enjoy in my own work. I also really enjoy sharing information so its perfect for me.
Darla, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Darla Jackson and I am a sculptor in Philadelphia, where I live with my partner, artist Paul Romano, my daughter Olivia and many cats. I grew up interested in Art, drawing constantly. So I went to Moore College of Art to be a Graphic Designer but quickly realized that computers weren’t for me. Instead I fell in love with sculpture, particularly clay sculpture and moldmaking. I started off sculpting the figure but began using animals as stand ins for humans in my work. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but I was talking about emotions, rather than just trying to replicate form. After school, my first job was at a scenic shop where I learned so much about sculpting, moldmaking and casting work in a wide range of materials and I carried that process with me throughout my career. Using of certain materials like polyurethane resin and foam allowed me to make work that was lightweight at any size, which meant I could expand the scale the work I was making. To this day, I do love working large, despite how heavy (and expensive!) it can be. Over the last few years, I’ve created some large scale works for clients, including a life-size pegasus, California Condors with 6 foot wing spans and a family of life size pink goats. I think that the way I approach a project allows for a creating an environment that feels a bit outside of what is expected in a space. Using representational forms in unconventional ways allows for a playfulness that I think viewers respond to.
I suppose I am most proud of my ability to figure out problems in interesting and atypical ways, while also tapping into human emotions. I like being able to make work that people relate deeply to despite it being an entirely different species.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
The biggest misconception between creatives and non-creatives is just how much is involved in the process. I used to hear “Why is that so expensive?” and the reality is that I try very hard to keep my work affordable, its just that the process involved is excruciatingly long and materials are expensive. For example, if I want to make a piece, I’ll start off by sculpting it in clay. I’m sculpting it on a board, using a variety of tools (each of which I bought long ago, yet still an expense.) This may take anywhere between 4 and over a hundred hours depending on the piece. I then have to make a rubber mold, which involves buying silicone rubber, brushes, buckets, plaster, Vaseline, denatured alcohol, T-pins, Plaster, burlap, etc, not to mention the plaster tools I’ve bought over the years, and this process takes days to get it right (and the price increases dramatically depending on the size.) THEN I have to cast it…this can the in plaster (the least expensive material) or polyurethane resin or wax if I want to cast it in bronze. And then, if you want to cast it in bronze, you have to make a wax replica of your form, add a gating system of wax bars, go through the whole ceramic shell dipping process, burn out the wax, pour molten metal into your now empty ceramic shell, let it cool, break it out of the ceramic shell, clean up the casting, possibly weld it back together, sandblast it, patina it, wax it and then bring it somewhere and install it. It is an incredible amount of work and usually an artist’s price amounts to far below minimum wage if you were to do the math. So I think non-creatives often miss that whole part of the very involved process. I have found that Instagram helps though because I am able to share the steps that no-one would normally see and people are always fascinated by it. Part of me wanting to teach is about sharing how important the process is, not just to artists, but to everyone.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Social media plays a huge role in my artistic life now. When I first started, I used it like most people do, pictures of my kid, cats, sometimes food and selfies. However, at some point I started sharing the sculpture process and realized people were interested in the stuff I thought no-one cared about…Step by step mold making Stories. Timelapse videos of me sculpting birds. And this made me realize that I could help people understand what I was doing and maybe they would learn something or at very least appreciate what I was doing a bit more knowing the work involved. This carried on for a good while and then the algorithm changed and my account was stalled out around 20k for years. In December of 2020, I took an online class about growing your Instagram with Dina Brodsky. I should start by saying I am skeptical of most things like this because so often folks want to tell you how much work its going to be to grow your following and I just wanted to be making Art. Dina’s class was amazing because she really simplified the process, and literally stated “You’re all artists. You don’t want to be online all day. You want to be making Art.” This was exactly what I needed to hear. From then it was a matter of tweaking how I was using hashtags and introducing Reels (which I hated at first but now I am very into because I love posting Timelapse videos.) From there, over the last few years my account grew from 20k to just under 70k. It’s great because I am someone who very much wants to share information with people in a way that is accessible to anyone. For someone just starting out I would say to focus on 3 things: 1. Make your Art account separate from your kids/cats/sandwich/selfie account. This is a representation of you that galleries, other Artists and possible future buyers are going to see…and you don’t want to follow up a great piece with a foot selfie or a sandwich. 2. Start with smaller hashtags. Most people use #Art or #Sculpture and these are too big for smaller accounts to make a mark in. Start with much more specific hashtags (#animalArt #realisticfigurativesculpture #claysculpture) and as the account grows you can use hashtags with bigger audiences. 3. Take great photos in YOUR style. Taking great photos is so important. No-one wants to click on bad photos. But you don’t want your photos to look like everyone else’s either… One thing I dislike is that everyone seems to homogenize after a certain point and everyone’s photos and accounts start to look the same. (Or they jump ship and go from Artist to Influencer and trade process for selfies…but that’s a whole different conversation… Step 4 don’t do this.) I post things that are very “me”. The studio is always a little bit of a mess…there is clay on the tools because I’m actively using them. There are sometimes cats in the photos because they won’t leave me alone. I am just taking photos as I am working, or have set up my phone on a swing arm above me to film a Timelapse of me sculpting. If you make it part of your process, it takes so little time and has a great benefit. I have sold work through Instagram, gotten shows in both galleries and museums and met other artists that I admire. It can be an amazing community. So, put the time in, just not too much time.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.darlajacksonsculpture.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/darlajacksonsculpture
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darlajacksonsculpture/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@darlajacksonsculpture
- Other: Blog: https://www.darlajacksonsculpture.com/blog Classes: https://www.darlajacksonsculpture.com/classes
Image Credits
Darla Jackson Maria Teicher