Snohomish artist brings the spirit of Sorticulture to life

The painting pops with vim and verve.

So, too, does the artist who created it.

The design by Jackie Cort is this year’s symbol of Sorticulture.

It’s on billboards and bus sides as well as on posters for the three-day garden arts festival starting Friday in Everett.

Cort, 49, painted it specifically for Sorticulture, which draws thousands to Legion Memorial Park for art, flowers, music, food and garden gear.

“I wanted it to be super bright and crammed many flowers in there,” she said. “I used as many colors as I could and carved it so it would have a lot of texture. That’s what makes it pop. It makes it look like it’s coming off the page.”

Cort uses a process with colored beeswax and a funny name: encaustic.

“The wax treatment allows it to have amazing ripples and texture,” she said.

She’ll sign free posters of her painting at the Sorticulture information booth from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Her worry? “I have to work on my signature,” she said.

Cort was recruited to create the painting for this year’s Sorticulture poster.

“The minute we saw it we just fell in love with it,” said Lisa Newland, the city’s cultural arts coordinator. “Her work is so bright and colorful and had such texture.”

Everett graphic designer Elizabeth Person put it into poster form that shows off the depth of the flowers.

The city bought the original painting, titled “Garden Party.”

As for Cort, mother of three grown children, every day is a garden party at her rural Snohomish homestead with goats, chickens, a dog and a husband.

Her art studio at the back of the property is part kitchen, part tool shop. There’s a blow torch and carving knife. An electric griddle heats the colored wax she applies to canvas, paper, wood and whatever, transforming a blank slate into a colorful blast.

She does lessons and group art parties at her studio. Even visitors get a crash hands-on course how it’s done and a pretty painting to take home.

Cort loved art as a kid and kept loving it. “I’ve always drawn. I painted my friends’ faces. If there was a dance I did all the props. It’s always been my thing. I’ve painted in everything, with everything, on everything. People. You name it. I’ve done it all,” she said.

“I’m really an art slut. I made pottery that said that.”

She goes by “waxslayer” on social media. “People are like, ‘What do you do?’” she said. “Not what you think.”

What she’s doing is finally pursuing her dream.

“I was in banking and real estate. Everything that bored me stiff,” she said. “In 2010, I lost my mom and decided I was going to do what I wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to do my art full time. It was hard for me at first.”

Maybe so, but she has garnered a loyal following. At last weekend’s artists garage sale at the Schack Art Center, buyers swarmed her booth and snatched up her vivid works as soon as the sale started.

Cort likes the luster and the versatility of encaustic.

“People at all levels can do it,” she said. Even those who can’t draw a straight line. Make that, especially those who can’t. The imperfections are part of the appeal that make it special.

“If you don’t like something you put color over it,” she said. “You can scrape off any chunks you don’t like. There’s a ton you can do with it. It’s really durable. People think because it’s beeswax it will melt.”

Has she ever caught anything or anyone on fire?

Only herself. Well, almost, when she was showing her daughter’s boyfriend how to burn off shellac late one night after having a little too much fun around the campfire.

“I’ve never had anyone in a class get burned or hurt,” she said. “My hands are like hot pads now. Nothing burns me much. You get a little desensitized.”

The most exciting part of her Sorticulture fame?

Seeing her art in a new medium: billboards.

“I saw a picture of it on a billboard and I was freaking out,” Cort said. “I was like, ‘Oh, if I was 20 I’d climb that thing.’ ”

If you go

Sorticulture: Everett’s Garden Arts Festival is at Legion Memorial Park, 145 Alverson Blvd., Everett. There are numerous food, art and garden vendors.

Display gardens: Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center; Land Hoe! Landscape Design and Construction; Planscapes and Complete Landscape Inc. NW; Landscape Design. Farmer Frog.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. June 12; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 13 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 14

Admission: Free

Parking: Park at Everett Community College North Broadway lot and take the bus. Regular fares apply. Limited disabled parking is available at the park.

Online: www.everettwa.org

Music and speakers

Friday, June 12

• 10 to 11 a.m.: Everett High School Jazz Combo
• Noon to 12:45 p.m.: Peter Ali, Native American flutist
• 1 to 3 p.m.: Will Franz, original acoustic pop folk
• 3:15 to 5 p.m.: Patrick McHenry, jazzy pop rock
• 5:45 to 7:45 p.m.: Gary Evans Collective, jazz, blues and pop

Saturday, June 13

• 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Zsofiz Pastor, affordable home-grown veggies
• Noon to 2 p.m.: Woodland, high-octane bluegrass
• 1 to 3 p.m.: The Tarantellas, festive Italian musicians
• 2 to 3:30 p.m.: Ciscoe Morris, “Oh, La, La Plants for Containers,” Q&A
• 4 to 6 p.m.: JP Falcon Band, rock, reggae, blues, country and Hawaiian

Sunday, June 14

• 10 a.m. to noon: Robbie Egelstad, Spanish acoustic guitar
• 12:15 to 2:15 p.m.: The Winterlings, alternative folk
• 2:30 to 4 p.m.: Jr. Geezer, original folk rock

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.

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