Conversations with Jamie Shackleton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Shackleton.

Hi Jamie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today. 
My love of art goes all the way back to early childhood in the Upper Peninsula. Some of my first expressions were to redraw cartoon characters for my sibling’s admiration. Later in High School, I loved drawing everything, but one of my favorite things to draw at that time was musical heroes of the time, such as Kurt Cobain. Receiving a scholarship to attend Blue Lake Fine Art Camp every summer through school for visual arts was life-changing. This cemented it for me, meeting other creatives I knew in my blood this is my path by 13 years old. This continued all through school art was my passion, I was voted most artistic in my senior class culminating with applying to college and going to Kendall College of Art and Design where I attained my bachelor’s in fine arts and Illustration. 

Today, I work and live in downtown Grand Rapids. While raising two kiddos and two corgis! 

Here is the Location of some of my public Murals-

1. Rivertown Crossings Mall in Grandville, Michigan

“The Monarch at the Mall” 2021 

2. Rivertown Crossings Mall in Grandville, Michigan 

“Frog Dreams” 2022

3. Heartside Park in Downtown Grand Rapids

“Connections to Nature” 2023

4. Minneapolis, Minnesota in the Midtown Global Market-

“Three Sisters” 2023 

5. Lion St. almost to Division Drain Mural- 

‘Grand Rapids- Turtle Island” 2021

6. Ionia by Hopcat Drain Mural-

“Sturgeon” 2022 

As well as Grant awarded projects for Art prize (Earth Works Portraits, 2021, 13 Moons Parachute, 2022), World of Winter (A Snowy Fox Family, 2022) installations and the Drain Mural project yearly. I also received a Grant for the all-season restroom in Heartside parks digital Mural wrap called Connections to Nature. Currently, my passion has led me to illustrating children’s story books for a local tribe, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. I am so excited to be a part of a project that will help further children’s relationship to their culture as they are traditional stories that will be published in both English and Pokagon. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a surreal journey to the road of being a full-time artisan. Some of the obstacles I have faced are a need for perfection and getting too much in my head. Managing being a full-time single mom and artist can be so hard. Time management is always a struggle as well as just maintaining all the many facets of running a business that aren’t just the creative aspects. Starting off I realized the importance of connecting with local art organizations such as Lions and Rabbits and DGRI and marketing yourself. From a cultural perspective, I struggle to talk about my accomplishments. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work is focused on nature and our connection to her. Some common elements may include Michigan critters, the moon, trees, and mandalas. Around 2018 through 2021, I became focused on watercolors that were 12 by 12 inches with a 10-inch circle composition in the middle, intentionally the composition of a record. The circles feel like windows into these paintings, and they were created as records of my life. I began to show and sell these pieces around Biggby, having art shows (Founders, and The Daac) and attending markets. 

Soon my work evolved as it grew to become large public works in my style and color palette still focused on critters, our world, and exploration of my own culture. (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa, Ojibwe.) 

World of Winter 2022 – A Snow Fox family, a large watercolor for a Downtown window became first grant for public work and I have gone on to receive several more. Including Art prize 2022, in which I was awarded the Michigan Bridges Grant for an instillation called -13 Moons Parachute. “Connections to Nature” is a mural around an all-season bathroom in Heartside Park installed early 2023, which was proudly made possibly with a grant from Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. and in partnership with Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation. 

Last year I completed my largest mural to date in the Rivertown Mall in Greenville, Michigan called – Frog Dreams. 

I am very proud to have been brought out to Minneapolis, Minnesota in April this year to complete my first out of State Mural for the Indigenous food kitchen. It was such a privilege to work with them to create a piece that represented the cultures of the people who work in the kitchen. I included the three sisters as the theme that food is their connection to nature and Anishnabae and Dakota floral as well as a monarch flying past in background. Each a part was very intentionally included and a meaningful element to the kitchens peoples. 

I am most proud of the work I am doing right now in helping the Pokagon Band of Pottawatomi Illustrate cultural stories that will be published in Potawatomi and help children learn and preserve their own culture and language. 

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Just don’t give up; keep doing the work and growing every day. Find friends and mentors on a similar path and lean on each other for support, encouragement, and advice. 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamie.shackleton/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WillowworksofMichigan/