An artist filled with ambition

Jeff Jackson meticulously paints a section of his current piece, an impressive twist on Bottacelli's Birth of Venus. For this ambitious work, Jackson uses a watercolor set not from a deluxe art store … but from a dumpster. His sister's husband, who has a garbage-rummaging fetish, found the watercolors in a bin near his Nevada home and mailed them to Jackson.\nDressed in a plain, forest-green button-up shirt, worn-in jeans and a salt and pepper beard, local abstract artist Jeff Jackson is as humble and unpretentious as people with eye-raising talent come. \nPerhaps a reason for his modesty is because art isn't his sole occupation. During the day, Jackson, 46, works for IU's University Information Technology Systems as an application developer for Indiana University Information Environment, which defines and accesses data.\nHis fascination with technology, as well as numbers and mathematics, is evident in his art, lending it an edgy, computer-generated-like quality.\n"Another Starry Night," a funky rendition of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night," hangs in Jackson's UITS cubicle. "Starry Night" is an ideal work for Jackson to reproduce because intricate, curly-queue patterns and vibrant, bold colors characterize Jackson's work, as well.\n"What I'm doing is painting dreams," he says, his beady, brown eyes shining through his silver, wire-rimmed glasses. He calls his abstractions of Bottacelli and Van Gogh's works "impressions of Impressionists."\nJackson works on his pieces after work from a drafting table in his Ellettsville home. He draws his designs first with pencil and then retraces over them with a ball-point pen. He uses watercolors - deep yellows, oranges and purples mostly -- to emphasize patterns.\nRuth Miller, Jackson's best friend since first grade, also an artist, thinks his aesthetic ability enhances his art.\n"I love the colors that he chooses. He has a very keen eye for what looks good together," Miller says. "The vibrancy of the colors is amazing."\nJackson's love of art fermented when he was a fourth grade student during the 1960s. The art teacher at his Knightstown, Indiana elementary school was a young British woman who encouraged the popular abstract art of the time period. \nJackson graduated from IU in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. During this time, he sought answers to some of life's most profound questions, such as "what 'is' is," in the areas of chemistry, physics, psychology and religion and found no answers. Jackson decided to pursue computer programming because he believes it's the closest way to achieving a theory of consciousness. \n"Programming is a tool that allows you to manifest those theories," Jackson said. \nJackson worked at computer company in Terre Haute, Indiana to pay bills and put food on the table, but applied for positions at UITS throughout his seven-year tenure at the Terre Haute company, finally receiving one in 1988. \nConsidering this academic and professional background, it isn't surprising Jackson possesses little in-depth knowledge about art and its terminology.\n"Just because I can produce it, doesn't mean I know much about it," he says. \nBut this hasn't stopped him from success. Jackson has sold around 100, 8 ½ x 11 inch pieces ($30) since 1996, when he first put his work on the market. He's sold 40 of his larger, 3x2 feet prints, three of which for $500. He also sells prints of his original works, such as Another Starry Night, for just $10 a pop. \n"I also sign them for another $10, but most people opt for just the print," he says laughing. \nMiller and UITS colleagues influenced his decision to sell his work. They always complimented Jackson on the "doodles" he sketched during work meetings and urged him to sell his pieces. \nJoanne Wilhelm, a UITS database analyst, owns five framed works of Jackson's. She says he refers to meeting sketches as "doodles," but they're really impressive works of art. \n"His work is just unendingly interesting -- the colors, the shapes. I always see new designs and patterns in it," Wilhelm said.\nJackson sells his pieces by word of mouth, mostly to friends, family and colleagues. He tried selling at art fairs but no longer does because fair goers are more interested in looking than buying, Jackson says.\nAnd selling numerous works doesn't give Jackson true pleasure. \n"What I like most is when I can sit and look at something when I'm done with it and think to myself that it came through me," Jackson says. "If it's good, it takes on a life of its own."\nFriends and family tell Jackson people will appreciate his work when he's gone.\n"Everyone tells him he'll be famous after he dies," Miller says.\nJackson's dream is to open his own art gallery and let as many artists as possible showcase their creations -- but he isn't concerned with earning beaucoup dollars or prestige and recognition. \n"I'm not going to sacrifice day-to-day happiness for something as thin as money," he says matter-of-factly. \nThese are the words of a content man who loves where he lives, enjoys what he does and knows what he wants.