Archived press release

Britain's leading landscape artist backs Friends of the Earth

15 December 2006

Kurt Jackson's paintings sell for tens of thousands of pounds and are snapped up by the rich and famous. As one of the country's most successful landscape artists his passion to protect the views he captures on canvas has now led him to support Friends of the Earth. The proceeds from the sale of some of his pictures in a forthcoming exhibition at Messum's Fine Art Gallery in London are to be donated to Friends of the Earth.

He says "The time is right. Friends of the Earth is speaking very loudly about climate change. That's why I want to back them. It's important to me and my work."

It's his work as an environmentalist that Kurt is most proud of. He lives in a neutral carbon home - one of just a handful in the country. He wants to ensure his way of living and working does as little damage to the landscape he loves.

Kurt adds: "I see myself as an environmentalist. It's my main concern. It's the fundamental issue and springboard for everything else in my life."

Kurt's desire to protect what he paints started young. He studied Zoology rather than art and has been a member of Friends of the Earth since he was a teenager. He's backed many environmental causes over the years. He's been artist in residence at the Glastonbury Festival since 1999, painting musicians such as Coldplay, Pete Docherty, Oasis and Radiohead - lead singer Thom Yorke is a Friends of the Earth supporter and official ambassador.. The work Kurt produces is auctioned off for environmental charities at the end of the festival.

WORKING IN ALL WEATHERS

When he works Kurt immerses himself in the world around him. He regularly paints large canvases out on the Cornish cliff tops, weighted down by granite boulders.

"When out painting you see seasonal changes happening later and earlier. I was on the beach and I painted butterflies. Butterflies in December..it's bizarre! The other day I found a Foxglove in full bloom near my house - it's a spring flower! I want people to see the wonder and complexity of nature through my art, to appreciate the beauty. Beauty is not a sexy word in contemporary art, but beauty can open people's eyes and make them more likely to do something to protect the planet."

GREEN LIFESTYLE

The Government announced in the pre-budget that it wants all new homes to be zero-carbon by 2016. Kurt is one step ahead of the Chancellor. His home and studio in Penwith, West Cornwall are carbon free zones. He and his wife Caroline generate all the required energy for the family home from a wind turbine in the garden - as well as a heat exchange pump bored deep into the earth under the house. Excess power is fed back into the National Grid. They grow most of their own vegetables and have built in a field near their home a fresh water, eco-friendly, natural pond.

EXHIBITION

In this two-part exhibition at Messum's Fine Art Gallery, Kurt Jackson continues his visual explorations of the complexity of nature. The first part is a progression of paintings inspired by the seasons in his own corner of earth, his vegetable garden. In the second he investigates two French rivers - one at the beginning of its journey and one nearing its end. Kurt Jackson is an artist and environmentalist. His work and desire to protect what he captures on canvas go hand in hand.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust