Myken Woods was a student of Jack's mentor, Chinese calligrapher Lin Chien-Shih, in Calgary. She knew Jack when he was an artist in residence in Calgary, and later visited him on Denman Island. She has been doing brush art with a calligraphic influence for 20 years. (interviewed by Angela Andersen, Victoria to Calgary, February 2001)

Dorjes #1 Jack Wise

How did you come to know Jack Wise?
I've been doing brush work for 20 years. I call it brush art, because I'm not Chinese. I studied with Jack's friend Lin Chien-Shih in Calgary, and met Jack through him, when Jack was an artist in residence in Calgary. I did not study with Jack, but, in fact, he asked me to take over his class at the Metchosin Summer School. One of his students is teaching it now, Lorne Loomer. Whoever is closest to the fire gets the warmth!

What do you, as an artist, feel that his lasting impact was?
Oh, their friendship was so special, Jack and Chien-Shih. Lin Chien-Shih carved 12 chops for Jack. Art, visual art, was the way they communicated, because of their different languages. That relationship, I think, will have a lasting influence. They were so close, and they chose a difficult path through their art. Their relationship was an education, and Jack's work will have a lasting impact.

In terms of his work, The Dorje Series, a series of large pieces, which is so much a part of Tibetan spirituality, and done with so much skill - I went to Victoria to see them at the Karma of the Dragon show. But I thought that that series and the large yellow mandala in that show were the pinnacle of his work. They were so tight.

Once you start looking at his work, you start to find that you are drawn to it. You can visualize it. Well, that's what he worked for. That's what he did, he played with the synapses in your mind, your mind's eye. Chien-Shih did that as well.

Do you think you could get a sense of who he was as a person through his art?
Only by seeing the full range of his work, if you looked at his earlier pieces, too, and work from different periods. You couldn't, totally, unless you saw his work during his years in the mid-west, his early pieces, too, sculpture and also his writing: examples from all his different periods, as well as his mandalas and brush work.

What do you think he would think of having his work posted on the internet?
Well, he was the kind of person that was "Well, however the universe unfolds." Jack wanted to have all his work housed in one place. He was very adamant about NOT fragmenting it. [a colleague once contacted Myken Woods about potential locations in Calgary for housing his works, collectively] It's really interesting, this idea of a "virtual gallery", and I suppose that's one way that his work could be shown all together. I would like to see this kind of project done for Lin Chien-Shih, a web site on his work, as well.