Voyage Raleigh Magazine
Highlighting Raleigh’s Most Inspiring Stories
The heart of the Voyage Raleigh’s mission is to find the amazing souls that breathe life into our communities. In the recent weeks, they’ve connected with local artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs.
It was honor to be included in this incredible group of features and to be highlighted next to several other extremely talented creative minds in our Raleigh community!
Read the full article feature here and explore more of these incredible stories at VoyageRaleigh.com.
Rising Stars: Meet Jackie Sanders
ARTICLE EXCERPT:
June 27, 2022
Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Sanders.
Hi Jackie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Of course, I am so excited to share my creative journey with your readers! For those who do not know me or my artwork, I am an abstract geometric artist with a community facing studio in downtown Raleigh! I am also a creative business mentor to other emerging artists as well as the cohost of the Level Up Artists Podcast, where we demystify the creative process and exchange ideas with fellow career minded artists.
But it has been a fun journey to get here and one that started when I was growing up in Baltimore, Maryland. I have always been drawn to geometric shapes and bold colors so on a mission to further explore this attraction and curiosity, I studied at Virginia Tech where I earned my BA in Studio Art, B.F.A. in Art History, and M.F.A in Material Culture and Public Humanities.
In 2016, I moved to Raleigh where I began to further explore the local art scene and figure out how I wanted to intertwine my creative practice with my identity as a working professional.
Then years later in 2019, I attended my first artist critique group at VAE (Visual Art Exchange, Raleigh, NC) where I connected with fellow local artists and began to figure out what being an artist “in the real world” could look like. My eyes were opened to the range of paths that the creative journey can take you on and how each artist defines success differently.
After creating work in my apartment, launching my website, blog, and online shop, and sharing my journey on social media, I knew that I still wanted to share my work with the world more. Connecting with others in experiences and conversations has always fueled my creative practice so, in July 2020, I moved into my first community-facing art studio at Artspace in downtown Raleigh!
Since then, I have moved into a larger studio within Artspace, been featured in multiple exhibitions throughout North Carolina, launched an art product line, and grown my collector base both online and in person. On a mission to demystify the creative process and connect with both fellow artists and art lovers, I also share a behind-the-scenes view of my creative process through my free weekly studio newsletter. You can subscribe through my website at: https://www.jaclynsanders.com/newsletter
In 2021, I also co-founded and launched the Level Up Artists Podcast! We release new episodes every Tuesday and they can be found on all major streaming platforms, including youtube! More information about the Podcast can also be found on my website too!: https://www.jaclynsanders.com/levelupartists