Norfolk Arts Adams Outdoor Art Pop Billboard Artist
Norfolk Arts Partnership Artist 2022
Artist Statement:
My name is LaJae Essence, I’m best known publicly as PoetryJackson. My collections are inspired by the books I read, the people I meet, the knowledge I have obtained, and the questions I seek. I use colors and symbols to convey abstract thoughts and emotions. I believe that through my Art I have the power to heal, inspire and enlighten. It feels like so much more than art to me, I feel like I have been painting meditations. I have a deep passion for landscape art. I teach primarily landscape painting in my “Painted Meditations” adult and youth classes. The sky, water, and flowers all remind me to be patient and enjoy the cycles of life. They remind me to be grateful for my senses and that life is worth admiration. I love the brilliance and innocence in the eyes of children I try to keep that same child like energy alive in the eyes of my characters. My art is often recognized by the way I style the eyes that I paint. A question I’m often asked is why women are depicted bare in some collections. My response is that they were nude before knowledge of sin, so I paint them so. The form of a woman is to me but another masterpiece in its natural state. Every curve on our bodies should be viewed as purposed and perfected. There is a reason we are created rounded and not squared. I love to paint Mother Earth in her many forms. I am an emerging Visual Artist and Performing Artist, based out of Norfolk Virginia. I find and release inspiration into teaching art as mediation to people of all ages and backgrounds. My mission is to help others expand their creative capacity. I believe in my distinctive and unique self-expression. My vision and journey to greatness is to paint colorful perspectives. I exemplify creative control by way of paint and poetry.