Behind Caleb is a portrait of a bear on the wall with contemplative eyes, a pen poised in his paw and a half-complete piece of art on the desk before him. “It’s a self-portrait, I've been told that I remind people of a bear,” he explains with a smile and shrugs, “there's some similar personality traits there.” In a denim button-up and cardigan, the bear rests his head in his other paw, momentarily caught up in thought. Similarly, Caleb leans forward with a thoughtful look.
Caleb Jacks’ career as an artist began organically due to not being one for sports and coming from an artsy family. As a kid and nerd obsessed with comics, Star Wars, and Marvel, “I would just draw all the time and I just never let it go,” Caleb laughs. It was a hobby and passion, a form of stress relief, and a way of learning and making connections as a dyslexic student, which led to a degree in art from Texas A&M Commerce and on to becoming an art teacher. “I think this is my 15th year teaching,” Caleb smiles, now an art teacher at LISD Hebron High School, “You kind of lose track sometimes.”
After college, Caleb taught, painted, sketched, and chalked his way through classrooms, projects and murals. His mural career kicked off in 2015 when he completed one in school chalk at the former restaurant Lark in the Park in Dallas. “They paid you handsomely with a $1,000 gift card to their restaurant. I've done it six times, I fed my family and friends like royalty,” Caleb laughs. A few more of his murals showed up around Texas, one at Greenville Presbyterian Hospital, one in downtown Fate, Texas (a massive 80-foot long piece), another in our own Lewisville Grand Theater, and just recently at The Barn at URBN Burger inside the cafeteria of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank. “I almost find it relaxing in a way. It sounds really cheesy when I say it, but it's like a weird silly dance. You're using a lot of full arm strokes, stepping back from the wall and then up to it.”
Though Caleb is familiar with murals, his artistic style is yet to be boxed in. “I’m all over the place,” he laughs, “I wish I wasn't because I think I could market myself a little bit better…I think I'm getting the saying wrong. ‘I’m good at a lot of things, but a master of none.’ That's how I kind of see myself. But I think it also helps,” he continues, “it shows how versatile I can be. I love exploring all different mediums.” From the outside, however, his versatility is far from his downfall, but really his strength. His pieces encompass everything from crosshatch shading and a block-print-like technique with high contrast and mediums such as oil pastels and even digital prints. But it’s not so much his methods or techniques that identify him but his inspiration.
“Recently it's been a lot Texas Western, just going back to my roots and this comfortable area in my life– a small town feel.” Born and raised in Greenville, Texas, Caleb reminisces on hating living in a small town as a kid, but now? “I have plans to do these large paintings of these tractor saddle stools. My great-grandmother had one in her yard and I loved sitting on it growing up.” The nostalgia of the “Saturday morning cartoons” way of life as a kid seeps into Caleb’s words, “I remember I had these clotheslines in my backyard. I would try and jump for them. I thought they were so tall, you know, as a little kid. But as I got older growing up there, I didn’t have to jump for them. I could just grab them.” A life of worn canvas seats of lawnchairs, clotheslines drooping over chain link fences in the backyard, old metal patio furniture, and tractor seats made into barstools… “the small town, slow living. I just miss that.” These elements that he embraces cause his style to tiptoe between Texas Regional Art and Modern American Folk Art.
In addition to personal inspiration, Caleb often works on commissions such as comic illustrations of a client’s son in a scene with Spiderman, family photos recreated as Lord of the Rings characters, or literal narrative drawings of a Bible story. Caleb’s new and growing website speaks to his skill in working within limits as well as outside of them.
“I'm very blessed, and just very thankful for the opportunity to be able to do what I do as a teacher, and still make art, that it's possible. I'm coming up on 40, and I still get to play with paint, pictures, and drawing.” It all goes back to his faith in God, he explains, a small sketch on the wall behind him shows a bear with the words “I've surrendered to your design” around it. It’s easy to see the elements of design in Caleb’s life, as a teacher, artist, husband to Sam and father to CeCe, and as he describes his childhood. His gift to create and imagine has brought him full circle. As a kid, it allowed him to sketch comics and turn a stick into a wand or an arrow in the little town of Greenville. Today, it allows him to turn an art teacher into a bear.
Contact Caleb: www.calebjacks.com // sayhello@calebjacks.com // @calebjacks_art
Jacks Family Photos: Emily Jacks Photography // Emilyjacksphoto@gmail.com // @emilyjacksphotography