Profile of Janet Jackson
Janet was born in Danbury Palace in Essex. As a child her hands were never still. She was always busy with scraps of fabrics or knitting or using small plaster moulds. Just making things. It was not until her children were older that she started pottery. Janet went to the Haimo Road Adult Education Centre in Eltham to play badminton and to fill the rest of the day she started pottery classes.
During college days she befriended the technician who suggested that she do some teaching and assistant work. She jumped at the challenge and started work in the evenings as a technician and also took a class of ‘youths’ at Lewisham. Through Haimo, Janet met David Burnham and John and Janice Gooding and they introduced her to the Kent Potters Association. Almost immediately she became the KPA secretary.
It was not long after she began pottery that she felt the need to do more with her life. Teachers’ training was the choice and she pursued this at Dartford College of Education. Art was Janet’s main subject but she majored in Ceramics. She gained a Teaching Certificate of Education in Art and Craft with Honours and in the following year she obtained a degree. Her first job was in a secondary school in Gravesend where she began as a part-timer doing technician duties. However, it was not long before she was made full-time. She taught ceramics, art, English and whatever else was on the timetable. Janet stayed at the same school for nearly twenty years.
Her interest in raku started with a KPA raku day at Bore Place. She saw the benefits of low temperature glazes and firing outside. The immediacy of raku suited Janet’s temperament. She had discovered at college that throwing with raku clay took the skin off her hands so she started to produce her one-off pieces by handbuilding, which she still does. Exhibiting started with the Kent Potters’ shows. Janet feels strongly that these exhibitions are a good place to start displaying work. They generate confidence and provide public feedback. She observed that when students leave college there are few places for them to exhibit and that is how the idea for a Kent Potters’ gallery developed. The Gallery in Maidstone did not make a fortune but it survived for 13 years, closing in January this year. Janet is constantly looking for properties that may be suitable for another gallery.
Her work is not planned but it grows and evolves. She occasionally sketches an idea but mostly the pieces come from her imagination. The love of textiles can be seen in the surfaces of her pieces but she also uses a variety of materials to attach to the work after firing. Glazing is rather frightening because it is unpredictable but the sawdust and the flame will always enhance the piece. Janet loves grogged clay but currently she is working with smooth earthenware which works surprisingly well for raku. A trial of a new black sculptural clay may produce a new range of colours.
Her attitude to work is professional so everything is finished well with smooth rims and bases but she does not consider herself to be a professional potter something which she defines as being full-time. While she was a teacher, making and selling ,she considered herself professional but she now regards her pottery as a professional hobby. Pottery has given her good friends, encourages her out at weekends and keeps her from being bored. Janet also paints and works with textiles and if that was not enough she is also a Ceramic Artists representative on Maidstone Area Arts Council.
There are plans for a big exhibition next year with the Pilgrims Way Artists in Lenham. Janet will be the featured artist showing her work in a central area. Non-functional work is requested but this will not be a problem for Janet. Ideas for strange creatures and birds which may be placed on stands are in her head at the moment. She has had work in the Hazlett Art Centre and three other galleries but is looking for other places to exhibit.
Janet is always on the go and the number of things she has been involved with in her life is amazing. She has done Party Plan selling, cleaning for Securicor, been an assistant caretaker at the village hall, a Parish Councillor, a Guide Guider, and a leader of young wives. When the KPA came into her life she became secretary then Newsletter Editor which she combined with being the Membership Secretary and also Chairperson which she did for one term.
Janet only relaxes when she is reading a good book or when she pots. There are not many days when she does not have her hands in clay. However, the energy, sense of humour and materials that Janet works with must have influenced her father to undertake a degree in ceramics at Bristol University. He graduated at the age of 80! Janet’s energy and sense of humour are always present in her waggish and happy pots which make you smile.
Liz Stace 2008
