Jack Cheatham, Untitled from The Perfect Ditch series, 2004. Etching/aquatint. Courtesy of the artist.
By Jennifer McKee
“The Perfect Ditch Series: Prints by Jackson Cheatham” is now on display at the Morris Museum of Art.
The exhibition, which features 11 pristinely crafted etchings, is on view through April 25.
Born in Columbia, Tennessee in 1945, Cheatham studied with Keith Rasmussen and Norman Wagner at the Atlanta College of Art, where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Afterward, he attended the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia, earning his Master’s degree.
I try to be clear about what it is that inspires me: the one way one line or shape establishes itself.
Jackson Cheatham
Known for his exquisite prints, Cheatham secured a position as adjunct professor of printmaking at the Atlanta College of Art, and developed the papermaking and book arts aspect of its curriculum. In 1981, he moved to Thomson to open his own printmaking studio, Lullwater Press.
Cheatham’s career also includes a stint as director of visual arts at the Madison Morgan Cultural Center in Madison, Georgia, and professorships at the University of Georgia and Augusta University, where he was head of the printmaking department and directed the Mary S. Byrd Gallery. He is now retired and continues to reside in Thomson.
The subject of many one-person exhibitions, Cheatham’s prints are included in the permanent collections of the Fine Print Division of the Library of Congress, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens and Morris Museum of Art, among others.
