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The fungus art of Raspberry Island keeper Francis Jacker
September 11, 2024
When you visit the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and Friends board member Neil Howk is your guide, you’re in for a treat. As a retired park ranger specializing in telling the stories of the islands, Neil has a special way of immersing park visitors in the rich history and natural beauty in the park. This summer, Neil volunteered at the Raspberry Island light, where in the late 1800s, keeper Francis Jacker exercised his artistic talents in a most unusual way. And where park visitors got the chance to do the same.
Francis Jacker (pronounced Yacker), the lighthouse keeper at Raspberry Island from 1885 to 1892, was a man of many talents. He was born June 25, 1840 in Germany where he received a classical education and spent three years in Munich at the Academy of Arts. He moved to America in 1859, eventually joining his brother who was a missionary to the Ojibway Indians in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. Francis mastered English and Ojibway and married an Ojibway woman named Ikwesens (little girl). They started a small farm and raised a family near Portage Entry on the land where Mrs. Jacker was born.
Several years ago, park staff learned of a diary that Mr. Jacker kept during his years as the Raspberry Island light keeper. The diary provides many interesting insights into his life on Raspberry Island. Several diary entries discuss Francis Jacker’s use of his artistic training to entertain himself and supplement his earnings as a lighthouse keeper.
August 15, 1886: Commenced etching on fungus.
August 16, 1888: Sent 16 fungus etchings to Tate Hannum, Bayfield – value of $72.00
July 18, 1889: I shipped fungus etchings (value $116) to Peter White for the Detroit Exposition. Some of them may possibly go to Paris, France.
Francis Jacker’s deer etching on fungus
Mr. Jacker collected bracket fungus from the bark of trees on Raspberry Island to use as the canvas for his etchings. After tracing the desired figure on the face of the fungus, he went over the entire surface with a point of steel making fine lines to give tone to the figure. After cleansing the fungus with water, it was covered with a coating of Chinese white, a semi-transparent watercolor. The rest of the picture was done in sepia ink. Mr. Jacker’s fungus etchings featured a variety of subjects, but many were scenes from nature.
I talked about Mr. Jacker’s fungus etchings with visitors on the tours I conducted of the Raspberry Island Lighthouse this summer. To help them visualize this art form, I collected a bracket fungus from a tree near my house and offered visitors a chance to etch the surface of the fungus with a small metal walnut pick. The pick etched the light colored fungus surface revealing the dark colored body below. Visitors marveled as their flowers, hearts, stars, trees, butterflies, and other figures developed on this natural canvas. Here are some of the fungus etchings created this summer by visitors at the Raspberry Island Lighthouse.
Neil shows park visitors how to etch on fungus
Bracket fungus on Raspberry Island tree
Top view of bracket fungus
Young park visitor tries her hand at etching
Etching on fungus
Visitor etchings on fungus
You can learn more about Francis Jacker as part of the History Mystery series on our website. In our next installment about volunteering on Raspberry Island, Neil goes foraging for the berries. And here’s a hint – he found a lot more than raspberries.
Neil Howk began working as a park ranger/interpreter for the National Park Service in 1978. He worked at a number of different parks over the years and served as the assistant chief of interpretation at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore from 1993-2016. He now serves as a board member of Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
Additional topics related to this article | Cultural History | Interpretation | Raspberry Island | Volunteering
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