Cornwall


<p>If you like your art a little muddy underfoot (quite literally), you’ll want this on your radar. Jackson is known for working en plein air, often right at the water’s edge (and sometimes in it), responding directly to the landscape around him. We caught up with Kurt to talk process, place and his upcoming exhibitions.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-Muddy-Stilettos-1000x667.jpg" alt="Kurt Jackson painting en plein air in Cornwall" class="wp-image-39707" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-Muddy-Stilettos-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-Muddy-Stilettos-800x534.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-Muddy-Stilettos-768x513.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-Muddy-Stilettos.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kurt Jackson</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-did-you-become-an-artist">How did you become an artist?</h2>



<p>My parents were artists and art was always encouraged. However, in my youth, natural history and art competed for my attention. Art won in the end, but I am continually being informed by the natural world and environmental concerns.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-can-you-sum-up-your-work-in-a-sentence">Can you sum up your work in a sentence?</h2>



<p>My practice is steered and shaped by my passions, concerns and experience in the natural world. I am a visual artist, a polymath working in direct contact with nature.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="750" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-painting-Muddy-Stilettos-interview-750x1000.jpeg" alt="Kurt Jackson painting on the banks of the river" class="wp-image-39709" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-painting-Muddy-Stilettos-interview-750x1000.jpeg 750w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-painting-Muddy-Stilettos-interview-600x800.jpeg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-painting-Muddy-Stilettos-interview-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-painting-Muddy-Stilettos-interview-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-painting-Muddy-Stilettos-interview.jpeg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kurt Jackson painting on the banks of the river</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-your-ideal-working-environment">What’s your ideal working environment?</h2>



<p>I move between working in situ, en plein air and in the studio. I guess my preference is to be quite solitary when I’m working, out under the skies, ideally in a biodiverse hotspot in Cornwall such as by the shore, in the woods, on a riverbank or the moors.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tell-us-a-little-bit-about-your-inspiration-and-process">Tell us a little bit about your inspiration and process.</h2>



<p>I isolate myself in marginal open-air locations and allow for a collaboration to occur between my materials, the elements, the fauna and flora and the physical topography. I then try to respond by putting my marks down on the board or canvas in hand.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-did-you-have-to-learn-any-new-skills-unrelated-to-painting-to-create-your-works">Did you have to learn any new skills unrelated to painting to create your works?</h2>



<p>My responses in terms of paint, sculpture or whatever evolve and change with time due to discovery, experimentation, desperation and accident; ideally everything stays ‘new’, fresh and dynamic.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-you-working-on-now">What are you working on now?</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="669" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-Foxgloves-Horizontal-1000x669.jpg" alt="Kurt Jackson foxgloves" class="wp-image-39703" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-Foxgloves-Horizontal-1000x669.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-Foxgloves-Horizontal-800x535.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-Foxgloves-Horizontal-768x514.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/01/Kurt-Jackson-Foxgloves-Horizontal.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



<p>I have just finished a new botanical project as a result of this extraordinary flower-rich spring and summer that we had. An ongoing series about the oak in the UK, which is a show currently touring throughout the UK as well as starting a couple of future projects which are under wraps at the moment.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-can-we-see-your-work-this-year">Where can we see your work this year?</h2>



<p>You can always view my work at the Jackson Foundation in St Just, we will wrap up my ‘River Fal’ exhibition at the end of February, with the next exhibition opening on 21 March. My ‘Lymington River’ exhibition is opening at St Barbe Museum &amp; Art Gallery in Hampshire now (closes March 14th).</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="998" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/02/Kurt-Jackson-FOX02-WEB-998x1000.jpg" alt="Kurt Jackson Foxgloves exhibition opens March 21 2026 in St Just" class="wp-image-39753" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/02/Kurt-Jackson-FOX02-WEB-998x1000.jpg 998w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/02/Kurt-Jackson-FOX02-WEB-798x800.jpg 798w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/02/Kurt-Jackson-FOX02-WEB-400x400.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/02/Kurt-Jackson-FOX02-WEB-768x770.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/02/Kurt-Jackson-FOX02-WEB-500x500.jpg 500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/02/Kurt-Jackson-FOX02-WEB.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 998px) 100vw, 998px" /></figure>



<p>2025 was the year of the foxgloves; not as in a Chinese year but simply in the sheer mass and profusion of these flowers blooming. I have obviously worked with these plants many times before, but this year I studied them intensely across Cornwall; everywhere I found myself, the foxgloves were there as well, just waiting to be painted. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-do-you-have-a-favourite-painting-of-yours-or-one-that-holds-strong-memories">Do you have a favourite painting of yours or one that holds strong memories?</h2>



<p>I am enjoying a painting that I did 10 years or so ago of Caroline (my wife) wading in the Loup River in the south of France. I painted it on the front of the local newspaper and it has been framed in a 1920s chunky gold Cornish frame and it looks great. Hot, richly saturated colour and evocative of the sounds, scents and memories of that time. It sits in our living room above the fireplace.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-if-you-could-magically-transport-one-piece-of-artwork-in-the-world-to-a-wall-in-your-home-what-would-it-be">If you could magically transport one piece of artwork in the world to a wall in your home, what would it be?</h2>



<p>Maybe an early Victor Passmore (British abstract artist from the 40s/50s) or a small late Bonnard (French painter, who died in 1947) or an African Miguel Barcelo (Spanish painter, who is still working).</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-your-favourite-cornish-views">What are your favourite Cornish views?</h2>



<p>Looking at St Just from across our fields with our ruby red cattle grazing out front and the grandchildren running around as well. All backed by the western horizon with Scilly floating high.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="994" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/11/Flora-150-Years-of-Environmental-Change-in-Cornwall-–-curated-by-Kurt-Jackson-Muddy-Stilettos-Cornwall-November-2024-thumbnail_PL17-994x1000.jpeg" alt="Flora: 150 Years of Environmental Change in Cornwall – curated by Kurt Jackson" class="wp-image-35409" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/11/Flora-150-Years-of-Environmental-Change-in-Cornwall-–-curated-by-Kurt-Jackson-Muddy-Stilettos-Cornwall-November-2024-thumbnail_PL17-994x1000.jpeg 994w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/11/Flora-150-Years-of-Environmental-Change-in-Cornwall-–-curated-by-Kurt-Jackson-Muddy-Stilettos-Cornwall-November-2024-thumbnail_PL17-795x800.jpeg 795w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/11/Flora-150-Years-of-Environmental-Change-in-Cornwall-–-curated-by-Kurt-Jackson-Muddy-Stilettos-Cornwall-November-2024-thumbnail_PL17-768x773.jpeg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/11/Flora-150-Years-of-Environmental-Change-in-Cornwall-–-curated-by-Kurt-Jackson-Muddy-Stilettos-Cornwall-November-2024-thumbnail_PL17.jpeg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 994px) 100vw, 994px" /></figure>



<p><strong><em>Kurt Jackson: River Fal </em>is at Jackson Foundation, Cornwall until February 28th 2026</strong></p>



<p><a href="https://www.jacksonfoundationgallery.com/fal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jackson Foundation Gallery</a>, North Row, St Just, Cornwall, TR19 7LB</p>



<p><em><a href="https://www.jacksonfoundationgallery.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">jacksonfoundationgallery.com</a></em></p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-in-the-mood-for-more">IN THE MOOD FOR MORE?</h2>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://cornwall.muddystilettos.co.uk/life/people/my-fave-places-cornwall-elizabeth-george-author/">My fave places: Elizabeth George, author &amp; creator of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries series</a></li>



<li><a href="https://muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/film-tv/film-releases-uk-february/">11 must-see movies hitting cinemas this February</a></li>



<li><a href="https://cornwall.muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/this-month/whats-on-this-month-lovely-things-to-do-locally-in-february/">What’s on this month? Lovely things to do locally in February</a></li>
</ul>


Muddy Meets: Kurt Jackson, Artist

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