About
Wisconsin based, Jackie is a long time artist and photographer. She grew up around makers. Her dad is a woodworker and musician, her mom would sew, draw, paint, crochet, and owned a kiln to fire ceramics. She would watch her grandpa in his workshop and her grandma making tiny dolls clothes on her sewing machine. Creating was in her blood from the start.
Sanders has always been interested in all types of art, experimenting in a variety of mediums including drawing, painting, metal, clay, and photography. She graduated from UW Madison with a degree in art education in 2005.
“Teaching shows you that you can know a lot and very little at the same time. You learn something new every day, has become a mantra for me. It’s ok to be a beginner, to not know something, to experiment and try something new.”
A few years later Jackie returned to school to get her photography degree at Madison Area Technical College, graduating in 2011. She made her career as a commercial photographer for over 10 years until the birth of her daughter in 2021.
At UW Madison Jackie took her first printmaking class, and though she found the process interesting, it wasn’t until she found Speedball Art’s speedy carve almost 15 years later that printmaking became a truly enjoyable experience for her. Jackie became engaged to her long time partner in 2019 and the couple decided to have their wedding on the beach in Costa Rica. She wanted to create a special gift for their guests, a small print of monstera leaves. Little did she know that this simple act would set her on a path. Jackie quickly fell in love with the act of carving print blocks, a calming and therapeutic act that she could do while listening to music, watching movies, or, most recently, keeping an eye on her small daughter. Rolling the ink on the block and seeing how the print came out gave her a similar feeling of excitement that working in a darkroom and seeing a print develop did.
Sanders prints have an illustrative quality, a bit organic in nature. She’s inspired by and interested in a variety of subjects; music, architecture, folklore, humor, and all things quirky and beautiful. She grew up playing in the woods by her dad’s house and always had a respect for the animals that made it their home. On walks with her husband and daughter she picks up leaves and nuts, photographs flowers and mushrooms to later inspire drawings and prints. She’s fascinated with the way nature is perfectly imperfect, the balance between light and dark, organic shapes, the night sky and constellations.
“Lately I’ve been really inspired by the curiosity of my small daughter. She is endlessly interested in everything. It’s made me look at the world in a whole different way. I have this dream to illustrate a children’s book that I can share with her one day.”
Jackie lives in Appleton with her husband, young daughter, and their dog Lulu. Jackie loves walking, finding new coffee shops and exploring, travel, photography, reading, and working on rehabbing her and her husband’s vintage camper.