Simon Jackson

(b.1959) lives in Eads in Fayette County
Power Out, 2000
assemblage, 17.25 x 28.5 x 28.5 inches, 2001.31

Self-taught artist and builder of miniatures, Jackson uses tiny two-by-fours and minuscule nails made from old battery cable wires to create realistic touches in creating diminutive versions of old landmarks before they are destroyed. It may take Jackson four months to a little over a year to re-create a building to his satisfaction. He has created more than 500 pieces of miniature art, including models of country stores, cabins, a jail house, an outhouse and even some still-lifes of animals in their native habitat. His miniatures can be found in the collections of The Memphis Pink Palace Museum, Elvis Presley’s Memphis Home, Graceland, as well as the Tennessee State Museum and Tennessee Arts Commission.

Building models is my way of preserving history. I find it a real challenge to recreate a scene or landmark exactly as I see it in nature or visualize it in my mind. – Jackson