Jessie Burns Parke facts for kids
Jessie Burns Parke (born December 2, 1889 – died March 6, 1964) was a talented American artist. She is most famous for creating the artwork for the cards in the Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.) tarot deck. Jessie was skilled in oil painting and watercolors. She made many types of art, including large paintings, tiny miniatures, and detailed drawings and illustrations. Her favorite subjects were landscapes, nature scenes, and portraits of people.
About Jessie Parke
Jessie Parke was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1889. Her father, Harwood Burns Parke, was a banker. Jessie was the third of four children in her family.
From a young age, Jessie showed artistic talent. She studied art with local teachers and at private schools. She also learned from an artist named Mary Morgan. Her skills were noticed early on. In 1910, she won an honorable mention in a design contest at Cornell University.
In 1914, Jessie moved to Arlington, Massachusetts. She continued her art education at important schools. These included the New York School of Applied Design for Women (now Pratt Institute) and the Chase School (now Parsons School of Design). From 1920 to 1921, she studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School (now the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University). She also learned from famous artists like Philip Leslie Hale.
In 1921, Jessie won a special award called the Paige Traveling Scholarship. This award allowed her to travel and study art in Europe for two years. She spent time in Paris and explored other parts of Europe until 1924.
When she returned to Boston, Jessie opened her own art studio. It was located on Newbury Street. She also worked at a portrait photography studio in Boston.
During the Great Depression, Jessie helped with government art programs. These programs were part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA helped artists find work during tough economic times. Her art was shown in a federal art gallery in Boston in 1936. This exhibit later traveled to other places.
Jessie lived in Arlington, Massachusetts, for 50 years. She was a member of important art groups, like the American Society of Miniature Painters. Her art was shown in many galleries and exhibitions. These included the Boston Art Club and the Salon d’Automne in Paris.
Jessie won several awards for her art. In 1945, she received the Medal of Honor for her portrait called Enid. She also won the Elizabeth Muhlhofer Award in 1953.
Jessie painted portraits of many important people. These included Roscoe Pound, who was a dean at Harvard Law School. She also painted a botanist from Harvard and a cardinal from Boston.
Jessie Burns Parke ran her art studio for many years. She passed away on March 6, 1964.
The B.O.T.A. Tarot Deck
Jessie Burns Parke is most famous for creating the images for the B.O.T.A. tarot deck. She worked with Paul Foster Case on this project. A tarot deck is a set of special cards often used for self-discovery or guidance.
The B.O.T.A. deck is different from most other modern tarot decks. The pictures for the main cards, called the Major Arcana, and the court cards are black and white line drawings. They are not painted images. Also, the "pip" cards (or Minor Arcana) have simple, repeating images. For example, the Seven of Swords card shows seven identical swords arranged in a pattern. Most other decks have detailed "story" scenes on these cards.
Paul Foster Case was an American expert in spiritual studies. He learned about tarot cards in 1900 and studied them his whole life. He believed tarot cards were not for telling fortunes. Instead, he saw them as a way to understand yourself better and find inner truth.
Case wanted to create his own tarot deck. He felt that other decks, like the famous Waite–Smith tarot deck, had confusing or missing details. He wanted a deck that was clear for his students. Since Case was not an artist, he asked Jessie Burns Parke to draw the images for his new deck. This deck was released in the late 1920s and is still used today.
Jessie Parke’s drawings for the B.O.T.A. deck were inspired by the art of Pamela Colman Smith, who drew the Waite–Smith deck. Jessie also used ideas from other tarot decks and ancient teachings. She included Hebrew letters and other hidden wisdom in her drawings.
One unique feature in Parke's drawings for the B.O.T.A. deck is Case's "Cube of Space" idea. You can see this in her drawing for the Emperor card. It is also thought that her drawing of the Hierophant card might be a portrait of Paul Foster Case himself.
Jessie likely drew the Major Arcana cards first. The other cards, called suit and court cards, probably came later. All the images were made as black and white drawings. Case strongly believed that students should color their own cards. He felt this was an important part of their personal spiritual journey. Because of this, the Case-Parke deck is still sold only in black and white. The B.O.T.A. organization even sells watercolors and colored pencils for this purpose.
However, after Case passed away, B.O.T.A. started showing the Major Arcana images in color in their books. They also often use colored versions of these cards on their website and in their products.
It is interesting to note that the B.O.T.A. website and catalog do not mention Jessie Parke. This is true even when they talk about the Case-Parke tarot deck that she illustrated.
Education
- The Chase School (now Parsons School Of Design)
- New York School of Applied Design for Women (now Pratt Institute)
- Boston Museum of Fine Arts School (now School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University)
Exhibitions
Jessie Parke's art was shown in many places, including:
- Albright Art Gallery
- Arlington, Massachusetts, Women’s Club
- Boston Art Club
- Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1926
- Federation of Women’s Clubs in Massachusetts
- Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers Society of Washington, D.C., 1953 - 1955
- Ogonquit, Maine, Art Center
- Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 123rd Annual Exhibition: 1927 – 1928, where her portrait Rita was shown
- Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters Annual Exhibition of Miniatures: She exhibited every year and won the Medal of Honor in 1945 and the Elizabeth Muhlhofer Award in 1953
- Salon d’Automne, 1924, Paris
- Society of Independent Artists: 1925, 1927 – 1933; 1935
Collections
Jessie Parke’s artwork can be found in several private collections, including:
- Harvard Art Museums, which has her portrait of Edward Charles Jeffrey
- Northwestern University School of Law, which has her portrait of Roscoe Pound
- Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Tufts University, which has her portrait of Amos Emerson Dolbear
