Woody Jackson
“Cows are the unsung heroines of Vermont.” –Woody Jackson
Woody Jackson knows a thing or two about cows. After graduating from Middlebury College in 1970, he had no interest in working for “the man,” so he and his fellow back-tothe- landers started a small commune on a farm in Addison. “We were a bunch of weavers, potters, glass blowers, poets, and artists,” Woody recalls. To supplement (or provide!) an income, Woody found work on Avery and Waverly Carl’s small dairy farm in Bridport. “I did whatever they needed: haying, feeding calves, cleaning out the barn gutters, but never milking—that was above my pay grade,” he laughs.
“I would be out raking the hayfields, or looking at a herd against the backdrop of the broad Champlain Valley and Adirondack Mountains, and I was blown away by how the cows stood out in the fields of different colors.” Those two years introduced Woody to the “real” Vermont and taught him to appreciate local culture and the rural life.
“Cows are the unsung heroines of Vermont,” he says. “When people think of Vermont, they think of a landscape of crop fields and pastures dotted with grazing cows.” Woody translated those visions into idealized cowscapes, everything bright and orderly, no detritus. Black-and-white Holsteins graze and laze on rolling pastures, conveyed in bold swaths of vibrant colors. Cows, barns, clouds, fields, and mountains elevated to simplicity, thanks to his talent as a printmaker and painter.
(left) Woody Jackson balances studio time with an active outdoors lifestyle.COURTESY WOODY JACKSON (right) All the makings of a quintessential Vermont day. COURTESY BEN & JERRY’S
A few years after earning his MFA from Yale School of Art, Woody received a phone call from “a guy named Ben, who wanted a cow logo for his ice cream trucks.” Ben & Jerry’s was still in its infancy in 1983 and just beginning to extend beyond Vermont. Woody’s bovine soon graced every package, label, and T-shirt, and the rest is history. He admits it’s still pretty cool to see his iconic logo when he passes a truck on the highway.
Woody and his wife, Ingrid, live in Cornwall, where the couple has raised their six kids and where Woody paints daily. “I head out to the studio around 10, do a couple of hours of deskwork and fulfilling online orders for the merch, and then paint from 1 to 6. It’s been hard to keep up with demand in the past two years, and I’m always working on commissions and original pieces.”
How does he keep fresh after painting for nearly 50 years? “I can apply my style to any scene, and every painting has unique touches. I’ve done cows, dogs, gardens, and apple orchards as well as scenes in New York City, Santa Fe, and the Italian Alps. I paint in watercolor gouache and oil, and I’m still learning and always discovering new things. I’ve been really lucky, and I’m just having fun playing with colors. Cows have been very good to me.”
