Decatur, Illinois was founded in 1829, and named for Stephen Decatur – a heroic naval commodore who fought in the War of 1812. Shortly afterward in March of 1830, an extended family of likely 13 migrated West to the region ( then Macon County), settling on an empty plot of land. Amongst that clan was a 21-year-old Abraham Lincoln. Decatur is now celebrated as the first city in our great state inhabited by the renowned slavery abolitionist and 16th President of the United States. Unbeknownst to many more folks, the county is also the hometown of pioneering sculptor, artist, and educator Preston Eugene Jackson.
Preston, a visionary best known for transcending mediums and themes, was born on March 1st, 1944 to Shirley and T.J. Jackson. Jackson’s arrival in Decatur emerged from the Great Migration, his family hailing from Trenton, Tennessee. One of eleven children, he was immersed in the worlds of art and music from the beginning. “As a kid, I recall powerful people, wise and strong. You could tell they came out of this unrest in America during the 1910 and ‘20s,” Jackson once fondly expressed in conversation with Peoria Magazine. “The history was fresh on their minds,” he echoes of his elders’ experience with slavery and the Jim Crow South. Jackson has long channeled many of those vivid memories into his artwork. His vocation towards creativity began at the prodigious age of 7 with drawing airplanes from the Korean War and World War II.
Despite his gleaming precociousness, Preston struggled with dyslexia for the majority of his elementary education. He remembers being “denied (advancement to) another grade level” due to his poor academic performance and corporal punishments – such as “being sent to the cloakroom” to sit in darkness amongst coats and jackets. Jackson’s early trauma intensified after watching his twin sister Priscilla graduate 8th grade alone. Notwithstanding many trials, he held great affection for Decatur, likening it to “heaven.” During high school, the eclectic artist expanded his extracurriculars with stints on the Stephen Decatur High track and football teams. He attributes being “saved” from a misfitted fate as a football player to teacher Justine Bleeks who encouraged him to study art.
Often vying for his heart against visually creative pursuits, Preston also fell in love with music. Bebop Jazz plucked his heartstrings to a particularly special tune, permitting him to memorize melodies with otherworldly ease. A seasoned Jazz and Blues guitarist, Jackson discovered his first guitar amongst the “raggedy instruments” dumped throughout his neighborhood. Influences such as the acclaimed Barney Kessel and T-Bone Walker prompted him to collect numerous guitars, “most of them without strings, or so warped you couldn’t play them.” A man with a knack for unearthing diamonds in the rough, Preston considered the instruments “treasures” he could remedy by simply “putting a wire in the right place.” Inevitably, the young musician formed a band with peers in his vicinity cleverly dubbed “The Rhythm Aces.” “We would practice in my basement because my parents were so cool,” he remembers of the days rehearsing in the faux “nightclub” of his home. The group went on to release a few records throughout 1960-1962. Aided by promoter Blane Gauss, The Rhythm Aces would play many venues across Chicago, Nashville, and Peoria, Illinois. Jackson’s escapades in the music scene put him in close proximity to many icons, including Peoria’s own Richard Pryor. “Richard and Chico, a guitar player, [musicians] Cecil Grubbs, Jimmy Binkley, and WIld Chip Gibson!” He recalls of many acquaintanceships formed at the Black underworld club, “Collin’s Corner.” While touring for a “strong decade,” Preston cemented his romance with now wife Melba who was a high “honors student” from Clinton, Illinois. “We knew we were going to get married, We didn’t even have to say it; we just knew it. It was something I’ll never forget, because it was so righteous,” Jackson remarks of his now five-decades long love story.
After his professional music career came to an amicable end, Preston pursued a formal art’s education at Millikin University. This was a short-lived endeavor as he “flunked out for some strange reason” after a teacher failed him in “art of all of things!” Still battling dyslexia, he eventually created a formula for recognizing words by shape. “I got to turn these visual structures into numbers, I can’t even explain it today,” Jackson once shared as a highlight of his brief act as Millikin student. Courtesy of his newfound learning techniques, he transferred to Carbondale College of Southern Illinois University in the mid ‘60’s. Preston recounts his years at SIU as a “big, beautiful time” within his life. “I turned corners in terms of developing as a person,” he recalls of the chapter that bestowed him with the gift of fatherhood through daughters Natalie and Alice. Despite Southern Illinois being “where it all started” for the artist, Jackson’s Blackness prohibited him from student- teaching at the institution. Forced to “drive all the way to Chicago to student-teach,” he began his career as an educator at Western Illinois University in Macomb. Preston remained in Macomb for over a decade, ultimately gaining tenure as professor of art. “They gave me all kinds of wonderful things, and the camaraderie among the teachers and faculty was so great,” he remembers of his time in the hospitable city.
The 90’s ushered in an era of entrepreneurship for the creative. Jackson was perusing the “ghost town” Riverfront district in Downtown Peoria
As a part-time Gallery Guide for the Riverfront Museum, I have witnessed firsthand the polarizing genius
