Meet the Artist

JumpingElk Studio was founded in 2012 by Artist Bethany Candace Lackie. The studio's nomenclature JumpingElk is to honor her heritage and derives from Bethany’s Lakota birth name. Bethany was born: Candace Leanne JumpingElk. She is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sicangu Oyate, a branch of the Lakota people in South Dakota.

At the age of two, she was placed in foster care due to her birth parents' inability to care for her and her siblings. Candace was adopted off the reservation at three and was given her new Christian name Bethany. She was named after her adopted mother's love for the town of Bethany in Israel when she was on a group tour of the Holy Land. She thought it was so beautiful and wanted to honor her forthcoming daughter as Beautiful and a gift from G-d. 

Bethany grew up in the church and knew from an early age she had a natural ability to draw and paint. She took various art classes during grade school and received numerous honors and accolades for her artwork. After high school, Bethany joined the Army to pay for college. She enlisted in the Army for three years in 2002 and was stationed at Fort Lewis, WA. While in service, Bethany met her future husband, Michael Lackie, and in the winter of 2003, they both deployed to Iraq in service of Operation Iraqi Freedom II for one year. During her deployment, Bethany was commissioned to create various artworks on Log Base Seitz, Iraq.

After a year of deployment, Bethany returned to Fort Lewis, WA, with her unit. She married Michael in March 2005. Michael received orders to Korea, and Bethany was accepted into The University of Washington at Seattle. Bethany was honorably discharged from the Army with numerous honors and awards in August 2005. She started her freshman year at UW on her 22 Birthday majoring in Sports Psychology. 

After completing her first quarter, Bethany experienced a physical and mental breakdown. She miscarried and emotionally spiraled out of control. She became manic, suicidal, and showed signs of dissociation. Not understanding what was going on with her body and mind, she went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with PTSD and major depressive disorder, all stemming from her deployment in Iraq. This began her long journey of healing from the traumatic events she had tried to suppress. During her deployment, Bethany was systematically bullied by her peers and change of command. She received verbal taunts and threats, encouraging her to commit suicide. She was sent mid-tour to a dangerous outpost in Iraq as a punishment. It was at this base, she experienced daily mortar attacks and witnessed several deaths of fellow soldiers who were killed by relentless bombing. The inability to process this type of hate and pure disregard for her life and wellbeing by her comrades and leadership. Bethany would spend the next ten years struggling off and on with suicidal ideations and PTSD.

During her mental health treatment and therapy at the Veteran Hospital, Bethany was introduced to the VA Art and Craft competition. Bethany, reluctantly entered but soon rediscovered the profound impact art has on those suffering from mental health. The Art show rejuvenated her love for painting and creating she had forgotten but wanted to hold on to she immediately changed her major from Psychology to Art. After receiving her Bachelor of Art from the University of Washington in 2010, Bethany began making art to share her testimony of survival with other Veterans who were struggling psychologically with the aftermath of war.  Unfortunately, this would include her husband, Michael. In 2011, he came back from his 12-month deployment to Afghanistan with a TBI and PTSD symptoms. After he experienced multiple mental/physical breakdowns resulting with residential inpatient care, Bethany knew the struggle that was ahead. She took five years off creatively to devote full-time to the care of her husband and newborn daughter Lily during this fragile time. 

Bethany knew she couldn't handle her mental health and her husband's recovery by herself she began attending church at the request of her mother. Slowly over time, her relationship with G-d became dependable, reliable and life-sustaining. She started gleaning from the Bible for life-affirming and infallible truth. Her faith grew, and she began to create artwork that openly declared the great love and affection for the power of G-d working in her life. Bethany didn't have a firm theological foundation and wanted to increase her proficiency in studying the Bible and the history of the church. In the Summer of 2017, she applied to the Master of Practical Theology program at The King’s University. After acceptance, she was afforded a once in a lifetime opportunity to study at The University of Oxford with the ”Oxford Experience”. This experience exposed Bethany to the historic journey of Christendom through the intellectual, historical and spiritual paths of the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world.

After finishing her Master’s Degree from The King’s University in 2019, Bethany felt led to create a space that would share both her passion of art and theology background with at-risk youth who are struggling with issues at home and in their personal lives by connecting them with an accessible art studio, Christian Artists and local community resources.  Bethany wants JeS to be a holy and reverent place for Christian Youth to express the work G-d is doing in their lives openly.  She wants to encourage sanctified imagination in art and believes that G-d uses gifts to inspire and reach those that are not open to traditional preaching. JeS provides rest for those wanting a place of rest from a world that can be stressful, intolerant and unrelenting.

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“The power of G-d in both my life and my family's life is undeniable! He has given me a renewed hope, vitality, and passion for sharing my art with those who crave to discover an all-consuming love and grace that is unconditional, everlasting, and transformative. I am just a humble servant expressing my love and honor to Him through my art.  I hope you are encouraged to reach out, share, and connect but most importantly create art that expresses an authentic, faithful, and honorable relationship with our beloved Father.  Together, we can change the world, one artwork at a time.” - Bethany