Jackie Windsor Interview

Podcast: The Modern Art Notes

I came across the modern art notes podcast when I was planning a 10 month curriculum while I was between the time of leaving my old job and taking time off because I was burnt out. My first 3 months of the 10 month plan claude.ai told me to check this resource out. There were 729 episodes and my first thought was: “ How do I get to the first episode and work my way forward?” 

I have a preference where I like to start at the beginning and work my way through something linearly. But starting at episode 624 would have to do  because spotify doesn’t carry the rest of them. I am hoping there is an archive somewhere because I really like the podcast so far.

This interview is with Jackie Winsor. The crazy thing is this is one of the last interviews she had before passing. I didn’t know about Jackie Winsor, but as I’ve listened to the interview and seen her work I have new thoughts. I am not really interested in minimalist art, and this isn’t a statement or condemnation of the art. Jackie's work is extraordinary, I  can feel the work she put in, the difficulty I have is in the lack of complexity at the end result.

I don’t know how I know that she had worked super hard at the work, but I think it is because I looked at art enough where I developed a sensitivity to the background work put into a piece. I will discuss more about this later because I think it's an interesting topic. 

Her work takes different forms. On the surface it’s a box with mirrors or a rope that is bunched together or some other basic form that is layered or complicated because of the scope or repetitive work put in. It is still a simple form though, but when I look at it I feel this heaviness like there was serious work  put in and in listening to her interview it is clear she went to great lengths to make the minimal art that she did.

I think it is frustrating for me to feel a work that has so much depth and yet the image produced has so little to look at. The whole story isn’t there, but IT IS! And, I think that is what she was going for in the work. These basic forms have this complexity to them that is hard to understand because we may just be looking at a simple shape or bunches of rope. 

The interview was interesting. She explains how much work actually went into the piece multiple weeks and months on a piece. This led to her not making as much work, but each work was profound. The profound meaning of each piece is felt and that a lot of time and care went into the work, again that is a sensitivity I have developed and would not be able to appreciate her work without it. 

I just wish the end result matched what amount of work she put in visually speaking of course it does match the result just not what I wanted to see. Some would argue that is the point of minimalism and it's probably just not for me, but she was a beautiful artist and I am glad to have found the interview.

Also, last note she had this cackle that was agitating. I think its because the editing cut some of the the pieces between so it just sounds like she has this short burst of a cackle back-to-back. This happens infrequently throughout the interview, and I am also sensitive to noise so it may have been the tinniness of the recording equipment more than her voice or laugh.