About Jaky

Heirloom Art that celebrates the places, moments and stories that make us happy.

I’m Jaky Pinnock, a self-taught Australian artist based in the beautiful South West of Western Australia.

I grew up in Busselton, surrounded by the turquoise waters of Geographe Bay, long summer days, the iconic Jetty and that wonderful sense of community that comes from living in a coastal town. Those places, and the memories attached to them, continue to find their way into my work today.

My art has taken me in two quite different directions: the meticulous world of fine art mosaic and the wonderfully imperfect, optimistic world of naïve painting.

And strangely enough, I need them both.

Finding joy in the everyday

I once heard naïve painting described as dipping your paintbrush into your heart and painting from there. I love that thought, but I think the real magic happens when something painted from one heart connects with another.

For me, art is an act of giving.

I want my work to bring joy into the spaces where people live, to spark memories of places and times they have loved, and to remind them of the small things that make life wonderful.

A familiar building might bring back childhood summers. A tiny figure might remind someone of a family member. A stretch of turquoise water might transport them back to a favourite holiday or simply give them a moment of happiness in the middle of an ordinary day.

That is why I fill my paintings with so many little stories. I want people to discover something new each time they look, and, over time, to find their own stories within the art.

The art becomes part of the life lived around it, full of stories and memories.

If my work can make someone smile, bring a family together to reminisce, help preserve a treasured connection to place, or simply make their home feel happier, then I feel the artwork has done what I hoped it would do.

I don't believe art has to be serious to be meaningful.

Sometimes bringing someone joy is meaningful enough.

Places become part of us

Many of my paintings celebrate familiar Western Australian places such as Busselton, Fremantle and Cottesloe.

They aren't intended to be literal maps.

They are more like ‘heirloom memory maps’, for generations to enjoy.

Landmarks sit alongside everyday moments, local characters, history, humour and imagination. Sometimes different periods of time exist together within the same painting.

I love watching people stand in front of these works and begin pointing.

"I remember that."

"We used to go there."

"That's where we took the kids."

The painting isn't really about my story anymore. It has become part of theirs.

That's one of my favourite things about making art.

And then there are the mosaics...

For me, mosaics are meditation in motion.

Glass, stone and natural elements have their own personalities. They can't always be persuaded to do exactly what you imagined, and I love that. There is something meditative about shaping individual pieces and gradually watching hundreds or sometimes thousands of fragments magically become a single image.

My mosaic practice has led to public and private commissions and opportunities to create work for some wonderful locations, including Kings Park and Botanic Garden in Perth. My work has also appeared in international mosaic publications.

Yet despite the precision involved, I still want my mosaics to have what I look for in my paintings: life.

A self-taught artist

I didn't follow a traditional pathway into art.

I am self-taught, and for a long time I probably thought I needed to explain that.

These days, I see it rather differently.

Not knowing all the "rules" gave me permission to experiment.

I learned by making things, making mistakes, becoming curious, pulling things apart and trying again. That curiosity has taken me through painting, mosaic, sculpture, mixed media, majolica, and jewellery amongst many other art forms, and I still love learning new ways to create.

I hope I never reach the point where I feel I've worked art out.

That would take all the fun out of it.

 

Why I make art

At its heart, my work is about connection.

Connection to place.

Connection to memory.

Connection to other people.

And perhaps most importantly, connection to that part of us that can still experience wonder.

If one of my paintings brings a smile, rekindles a treasured memory, sparks a story between generations, or simply makes a space feel a little happier and more beautiful, then it has achieved something truly worthwhile.