Jason Jacque b. 1977 Postville, NL
Working between Postville, Nunatsiavut, NL, and Barrie, ON, self-taught sculptor Jason Jacque has been practicing since his early teens creating distilled renditions of Arctic animals and cultural practices out of serpentinite, marble and labradorite sourced from quarries in Nunatsiavut. Antler, bone, wood and other natural materials also appear in a number of his multimedia works further emphasizing the artist’s interest in traditional life. While only recently exploring jewellery-making, Jacque has already amassed a significant portfolio of finely crafted objects as he continues to hone his skills through studies at Georgian College. For the artist, these newfound techniques and materials offer exciting potentials in combination with carving. “It opens up the range of things I can make and broadens my creativity more,” he notes. “There are different textures I can use, and it provides me with different effects instead of simply using stone.” Owl (2019) speaks to this burgeoning expansion in his practice. Accenting the rich olive and midnight hues in the polished black pearl steatite are two piercing silver eyes and a gilded beak that, together, expertly capture the animal’s haunting gaze. “When I’m carving, I will not draw anything out but just work with the stone,” Jacque explains about his intuitive approach. “It’s much more free. I tend to let the rock make its own form.”