Since moving back to Lewistown I have had the pleasure of meeting so many wonderful people who love the arts and see how it makes an impact locally. However, I am not sure I have met anyone who is making that impact a reality to so many as our next featured artist Jacqueline Mercenier. Jacqueline is featured, above, in the profile image with Melody Lark (she is on the right, if you don't know Melody). She is teeny tiny and has a spritely voice with a beautiful French accent a...nd, I swear, a twinkle in her eye. Please enjoy our interview!
Me: Jacqueline I think people would love to hear about how you came to be part of the community?
J: Ah yes, well, I was born in Brussels Belgium and came to the U.S. in 1977.
Me: Wow, you have been here for 36 years.
J: Yes, and it is home. I knew it was home the first time I saw it. When I was growing up in Belgium there was a lovely chocolate that you could get that had wrappers with birds and landscapes of the Rocky Mountains. That is how I fell in love with this area before ever seeing it. So, when I was finally able to, I took a boat to Canada and then did a 3 day bus ride through Canada. When I saw the Rockies I literally said out loud, "I am home". That might sound odd to some people, but that is how it felt.
Me: That's beautiful.
J:I lived in southern Idaho for 8 years. And then shared my heart between New Mexico and Montana. Finally I decided on MT in 1985 when I moved to Helena. That is when I became really serious about art. I met my husband, David, there in 87. We discovered Lewistown together really. I guess I was drawn to it because it is such an unlikely landscape. You have so many landscapes in MT to choose from but nothing comes together quite the way it does here.
Me: Did you start out as a painter?
J: Actually I started weaving but decided to sell my loom for a painting table and that was sort of that. I began working at the Art Center, here in Lewistown as an assistant, teaching art to children. That is my true heart, I love it very much. I have been doing that for the last 14 years.
Me: Do you miss Belgium?
J: No, not really, I love the West, it is still enchanting, I love the people, the ruggedness of them, their openness and their directness. They are a certain quality of people you cannot find elsewhere. And of course there are these landscapes. I can paint them for eternity.
Me: What is your favorite thing about them?
J: The vastness. Coming from a small crowded country I literally feel "spirit" in their vastness. As if you are something very tiny in something very huge, the spirituality of that dynamic, is quite intriguing to me.
Me: Oh I love that description.
Me: You mainly use water colors?
J: Yes, water colors and oil paints. I love the butteriness of the oils.
Me: You are the chair of the MT Water Color Society, right?
J: Yes, that has been great. The gallery showing is here in Lewistown so I help with that since 94.
Me: What is your training?
J: I go to a lot of workshops all over MT but I actually have a Masters Degree in Biology/Zoology from the University of Brussels.
Me: Oh wow, no wonder your animals are so well done. You are an expert.
J: (Laughing) Well, had I listened to my spirit rather then my head and the people who told me I could not make a living as an artist I would have went for an art degree. It's OK though, I was able to rectify that by an entire lifetime of only following my heart from then on.
Me: Wow, I hear this a lot from the artists I interview. There is such a struggle between following ones passions and following one's responsibilities. What made you decide to do that?
J: Well I watched my Mom, who was directly affected by the Holocaust and I knew I had to do what would nourish spirit, life, and heart through creativity to honor that pain and suffering.
Me: Wow, Jacqueline. I am speechless.
J: (Smiling broadly) Well, it's all a part of life. I just had to make the choice to follow that path. It's all a choice for happiness and health. Not following it has consequences to the soul. If you don't nourish your intuition you are missing an entire dimension to your soul. I like to teach that to the children I work with. When you allow them their creativity you allow them to learn how to solve problems?
Me: How do you mean?
J: Well, for example I had a young girl come up to me and say, "Miss Jacqueline, you forgot to give us black and brown." I told her, "Oh no, I did not forget, you have black and brown hidden within all of the primary colors." She looked at me puzzled, went back to her chair and I watched as she experimented with the colors and finally created brown. She came running up to me and said, "Oh Miss Jacqueline, I did it, I made brown!".
Me: That's wonderful! Do you worry about the trend that art is being removed from public education?
J: I do. I think art is an important component in shaping thinking and can even be used to re-shape thinking on a deep spiritual level.
It helps when they make mistakes and I can show them that the mistakes were necessary to create the whole. That we might call them mistakes and that has a negative connotation, but really they are as big a part of the art as the intentional. In that way students learn that the solution is within the problems themselves.
Me: I had not thought of that. I often just think of art as a way out of reality, but it is very much part of it. I see that now. You are a teacher! (laughing)
J: Ah yes, art, as a process, it can be a lonely thing but to share it with another is to create a communion. We must be careful then, not to educate the creativity out of our children. With creativity and art they will be better equipped to handle the problems of our world. I believe art could and does make society healthier and happier.
Me: Jacqueline you have inspired me and I am sure your interview will inspire others. Thank you for your time and your friendship. I feel blessed knowing you.
Me: Jacqueline I think people would love to hear about how you came to be part of the community?
J: Ah yes, well, I was born in Brussels Belgium and came to the U.S. in 1977.
Me: Wow, you have been here for 36 years.
J: Yes, and it is home. I knew it was home the first time I saw it. When I was growing up in Belgium there was a lovely chocolate that you could get that had wrappers with birds and landscapes of the Rocky Mountains. That is how I fell in love with this area before ever seeing it. So, when I was finally able to, I took a boat to Canada and then did a 3 day bus ride through Canada. When I saw the Rockies I literally said out loud, "I am home". That might sound odd to some people, but that is how it felt.
Me: That's beautiful.
J:I lived in southern Idaho for 8 years. And then shared my heart between New Mexico and Montana. Finally I decided on MT in 1985 when I moved to Helena. That is when I became really serious about art. I met my husband, David, there in 87. We discovered Lewistown together really. I guess I was drawn to it because it is such an unlikely landscape. You have so many landscapes in MT to choose from but nothing comes together quite the way it does here.
Me: Did you start out as a painter?
J: Actually I started weaving but decided to sell my loom for a painting table and that was sort of that. I began working at the Art Center, here in Lewistown as an assistant, teaching art to children. That is my true heart, I love it very much. I have been doing that for the last 14 years.
Me: Do you miss Belgium?
J: No, not really, I love the West, it is still enchanting, I love the people, the ruggedness of them, their openness and their directness. They are a certain quality of people you cannot find elsewhere. And of course there are these landscapes. I can paint them for eternity.
Me: What is your favorite thing about them?
J: The vastness. Coming from a small crowded country I literally feel "spirit" in their vastness. As if you are something very tiny in something very huge, the spirituality of that dynamic, is quite intriguing to me.
Me: Oh I love that description.
Me: You mainly use water colors?
J: Yes, water colors and oil paints. I love the butteriness of the oils.
Me: You are the chair of the MT Water Color Society, right?
J: Yes, that has been great. The gallery showing is here in Lewistown so I help with that since 94.
Me: What is your training?
J: I go to a lot of workshops all over MT but I actually have a Masters Degree in Biology/Zoology from the University of Brussels.
Me: Oh wow, no wonder your animals are so well done. You are an expert.
J: (Laughing) Well, had I listened to my spirit rather then my head and the people who told me I could not make a living as an artist I would have went for an art degree. It's OK though, I was able to rectify that by an entire lifetime of only following my heart from then on.
Me: Wow, I hear this a lot from the artists I interview. There is such a struggle between following ones passions and following one's responsibilities. What made you decide to do that?
J: Well I watched my Mom, who was directly affected by the Holocaust and I knew I had to do what would nourish spirit, life, and heart through creativity to honor that pain and suffering.
Me: Wow, Jacqueline. I am speechless.
J: (Smiling broadly) Well, it's all a part of life. I just had to make the choice to follow that path. It's all a choice for happiness and health. Not following it has consequences to the soul. If you don't nourish your intuition you are missing an entire dimension to your soul. I like to teach that to the children I work with. When you allow them their creativity you allow them to learn how to solve problems?
Me: How do you mean?
J: Well, for example I had a young girl come up to me and say, "Miss Jacqueline, you forgot to give us black and brown." I told her, "Oh no, I did not forget, you have black and brown hidden within all of the primary colors." She looked at me puzzled, went back to her chair and I watched as she experimented with the colors and finally created brown. She came running up to me and said, "Oh Miss Jacqueline, I did it, I made brown!".
Me: That's wonderful! Do you worry about the trend that art is being removed from public education?
J: I do. I think art is an important component in shaping thinking and can even be used to re-shape thinking on a deep spiritual level.
It helps when they make mistakes and I can show them that the mistakes were necessary to create the whole. That we might call them mistakes and that has a negative connotation, but really they are as big a part of the art as the intentional. In that way students learn that the solution is within the problems themselves.
Me: I had not thought of that. I often just think of art as a way out of reality, but it is very much part of it. I see that now. You are a teacher! (laughing)
J: Ah yes, art, as a process, it can be a lonely thing but to share it with another is to create a communion. We must be careful then, not to educate the creativity out of our children. With creativity and art they will be better equipped to handle the problems of our world. I believe art could and does make society healthier and happier.
Me: Jacqueline you have inspired me and I am sure your interview will inspire others. Thank you for your time and your friendship. I feel blessed knowing you.
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