Mark




Jonathan Jackson (Tierra del Sol)



October 18 - December 10, 2023

Sprague Gallery


Reception: Tuesday, December 5, 4:30-6:30 p.m. followed by the HMC Student Recital, 7 p.m.



A central arrangement of loopy, irregular lines in contact with and intersecting one another is against a backdrop of geometric shapes and stripes. The backdrop in three divisions – those on the left and right sides in vertical and horizontal stripes and one in the middle with circles – and that the central lines not only intersect with one another but also with the backdrop suggest a multi-dimensional space. Jonathan Jackson, Water Pipes, 2019, colored pencil and marker on paper, 18 x 24 inches. Photo courtesy of Tierra del Sol Studios.


Sprague Gallery is pleased to announce Lines, the first solo exhibition of Jonathan Jackson. Jackson makes drawings and paintings with a range of subject matter and stylized patterns. Landscapes, figures, and forms are drawn with confident line work and rendered in the vibrancy of colored pencils, markers, and acrylic paint. This exhibition presents the artist’s works on paper from 2017 to 2023. 

Lines do many things in Jackson’s work: in Circle (2019), lines make up the entire form and world; in Water Pipes (2019), line becomes form and intersects dimensions of other forms; in Mother Nature’s Enchantment (2018), lines make up a tree which holds and contains other forms; in Untitled (2019), lines from the previous layers remain; and in Teapot (2017), the thinnest lines demand closer attention. Sometimes lines end short. At other times they continue and permeate into other forms and fields. In the most recent works from 2023, lines persist through interruptions by the added texture of thick paint.

As each line most directly follows the hand of the artist, his senses, memory, and movement, thinking about the lines becomes thinking about the artist, the way he exists, moves, and imagines. So when one work in this exhibition, Flowers (2023), is without a single line, we might ask: Where is Jonathan? What is he up to?

Lines opens on October 18 and continues through December 10, 2023. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with additional hours during events on evenings and weekends. The exhibition is open to the public.

The exhibition is curated by Arts Director Julia Hong of the HMC Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts.


Jonathan Jackson (b. 1988) has worked in the Careers in the Arts program of Tierra del Sol Foundation since 2010. He has exhibited his work at Bridge Gallery, Los Angeles; First Street Gallery, Upland; Square I Gallery, Claremont; Descanso Gardens’ Sturt Haaga Gallery, La Canada Flintridge; Chan Gallery, Pomona College, Claremont; and Inland Empire Museum of Art, Upland, all in California.

Tierra del Sol Foundation is a not-for-profit founded in 1971. The Foundation champions inclusion and value for all individuals with disabilities through creative pathways to employment, education, and the arts. For more information, visit tierradelsol.org and tierradelsolgallery.org.
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