Visual Art
Jack Archer: A Life in Ink
August 29 – 14 September
Opening night: Thursday 28th August, 6.30pm
Technical Illustrator, Graphic Designer, Typographer, Calligrapher, Poet, Cyclist.
Born on 18th January 1934 in a private maternity home at 24 Underwood St, Whitechapel, Jack was set upon his artistic journey rather by chance. With no clear idea of what he wanted to do having left school at 16 an interview at the Labour Exchange led him to the doors of Tyler & Co. Ltd, railway signalling engineers, where there was a vacancy in their drawing office.
By the late 1950s, and after a spell in the RAF, he’d secured work with large aircraft manufacturers, De Havilland and Vickers Supermarine, as a Technical Illustrator where he worked on projects at the vanguard of British aircraft design, such as the Comet 4 passenger jet.
As the work landscape was changing with the introduction of new technologies towards the end of his working life, Jack’s output became more focussed on design. This supported the relentless demand for manuals, guides and publicity material published by the Ministry of Defence, but occasional exhibits and pieces of institutional artwork too.
Following retirement, Jack continued to explore new avenues of creative expression, joining the Corsham Calligraphy Group that met in the old public library on Pickwick Rd, writing poetry and illustrating books for his grandchildren which he authored.
