about
jason
Howdy. Can’t believe it’s already two-thousand 25. Yeesh.
Interesting times. AMIRIGHT? Yeah, me too. I’ve gotten a lot greyer, but I’m still here. You could stop right there, if you want. That’s the gist of it.
Sticking around? You sure? Thanks for your interest.
I was born in the beautiful city of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and grew up surrounded by all things artistic. Art in all its variations has always grabbed my interest, from drawing and painting to sculpture, ceramics, and architecture. I took every art class they let me take through grade schools, middle school & high school. When they weren't offered, I took extracurricular classes.
Commercial design, in particular, was very interesting to me and with the help of a fantastic art teacher and a commercial design program at my high school I got a solid grounding in professional design concepts like kerning, balance, color, tone, and form. I took on my first design projects for local businesses and organizations as a sophomore in high school and have been freelancing ever since. Over the past twenty-five years, I've studied frequently at the school of hard knocks and have learned what works and what doesn't. I'd love to invite you to browse my portfolio.
In addition to my passion for the visual arts, I grew up in a musical family—just about everybody on Dad's side plays multiple instruments. We still get together every once in awhile to play bluegrass, old-style music, and folk. I started playing the guitar at the age of eight, the piano somewhere around that time, and picked up the mandolin and other instruments.
In fifth grade, I started playing violin (and fiddle music with my family), and continued in both classical and contemporary instruction throughout middle school and high school. I had the pleasure of serving as concertmaster for the CHS senior orchestra, as well as singing in the select choir and jazz choir, playing piano/keyboards in the stage band and pep band, and taking private violin instruction. I also began writing music in high school. (Over the years, I've picked up a number of other instruments and am always learning something new. I have a lot of fun. Oh, and I teach music if you’re interested.)
“Design is the liminal space between the points of light that draw one heart and mind to another. Art is where the Light shines through.”
“Creatus, creationis. [Created, creating.]”
“Nil nisi Cruce. [Nothing but by the Cross.]”
WANIGAN, 2023. From left: Tim Gundy, Warren Akin, Denis Hackwith, Jason Hackwith, Adam Leavitt
Follow me on this journey I’m on to the river Beautiful. Created, I create as I walk along the road. #riverbeautiful
You’ve stayed this far? Shucks. I hope you’re happy. You’ll get more than you wanted to, I’m sure. Get me talkin’ and I have a hard time shuttin’ up.
So where was I? Oh yeah, Eugene. I graduated from CHS (that’s Coeur d’Alene High School, right… GO VIKINGS!) in 1996 and headed off to Northwest Christian College (now called Bushnell University), I was already designing on a freelance basis as an offshoot of the commercial design and graphic design classes I was taking. I decided to major in music ministry—essentially a music performance degree with a Christian emphasis. My primary instrument was voice, and I decided to study guitar more seriously as my secondary instrument.
I continued to freelance throughout college, expanding into website design in 1996.
I get all distracted with music stuff and life happens.
In 1998, I was honored to be one of the singer/songwriters featured on the College Life Compilation, a CD produced by Paul Wright along with other artists from Northwest Christian University, including Ryan Stevenson, Shawn McDonald & Keegan Smith. I also toured with several groups including Pilgrimage, a group of eight that played just about every weekend during 1998-1999, including a 12 concert tour through California.
In 2000, I moved back to Lewiston, Idaho to be closer to family. In 2006 I became the fiddle player for Wanigan (a progressive bluegrass/folk band). We released Brand New Day in 2008, Firefly in 2013, and we're currently working on our next album while playing gigs around the Northwest.
On July 13th, 2014, I married my best friend, Lindsay.
Yeah. I’m that blessed.
Between us, Lindsay and I have had quite a clowder of cats over the years.
If you stop by sometime you might meet Ellie, our slightly crazy but hilariously fun youngster. If you are especially lucky, you might meet our friendly senior cat Alice, also called Mama Kitty. You will never see the enigmatic and aloof Tiger Lilly. Rumor has, she does not exist. But she is watching. Always watching.
We tragically had to say goodbye to Al the big lovable clown a few years ago after a long battle with a heart defect. The previous year we had to say goodbye to Marari after a courageous battle with end-stage renal failure. Mysti, also known as Magical Mrs. Mystopholes, passed a few months later.
In 2018, Lindsay, the furkids, and I moved to Darrington, Washington where we simultaneously froze to death and starved in the Northern Cascades. Somehow we survived and made it to Newport, Oregon in 2019 for a few years—where we got rained on and survived a pandemic.
We escaped back to the Lewis-Clark Valley in 2022 and are so glad to be back home with family and friends. Lindsay is a preschool teacher with Enriched Beginnings Learning Center, where I got to be Santa recently.
We don’t have much but we are counting our blessings.
I’m currently available for private music lessons, commissioned works, and a number of other services including design, copywriting, teaching, and more.
Between assorted projects and the occasional friendly migraine, I write, record music, play with our kitties, and illustrate. I’m also busy releasing my book, the river Beautiful, a collection of new and selected works over the past twenty-five years.