Jack Duckworth

Painting brings me delight. My interest in art began at a young age. By my late teens, the artist-in-me began to flourish, capping these years with the influence of Bill Calder, my high school art teacher. His unique character and high expectations made budding artists want to produce good work. After graduating from the Visual and Performing Arts program at Cowichan High School, I studied classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. Concurrent with these studies, I was tutored by Victoria visual artist Glen Hawkins. His influence took my work forward into realism and helped me seek to find my style.

Family, further education, and vocation took me from painting except for a few brief sojourns back to my easel. After completing my education (BMus, UVic. 90, DipCS, MDiv, Regent College 93, and later D.Min., 2014), we moved to Victoria (1994-2004), serving First Baptist Church and then campus ministry. Our family moved to Winnipeg in 2005, where I served First Presbyterian church for six years, followed by six years serving a campus ministry working with international students.  During these years, I traveled and taught two-week undergraduate and graduate-level practical theological modules in Eastern and Western Europe. 

Now retired, I am establishing myself as an artist showing in galleries and coffee shops from Victoria to Comox. Averaging 20 shows, big and small yearly, I continue to book ahead with the hopes that my paintings will find new homes with people who enjoy them. I love exploring the colours, contours, design, and rhythm of landscapes, local scenes, and scenes from across Canada and Europe, and I experiment, albeit only slightly, with abstract pieces.

I enjoy the rarity of losing myself in my work. Once at the easel, time no longer controls me. The hours pass, the paintings take shape, and the work is produced with seemingly little effort. I believe this is part of the gift of art that nurtures my delight.