Jones' portfolio | contact the artist article: Spring 2005
Jill Jones holds degrees from the University of South Carolina and Converse College. Working primarily in oils and pastel, she has had work included in exhibitions juried by such prestigious curators as Lilian Tone of the Museum of Modem Art in New York, nationally-known artist Burton Silverman and internationally-known artist and illustrator Sue Coe. Her work has garnered numerous awards, including Best of Shows from Upstate Visual Arts in Greenville, SC, the Anderson County Juried Exhibition in Anderson, SC and the Artists' Guild of Spartanburg. Jones focuses almost exclusively on landscapes, painting largely from memory of a childhood spent in the rural Upstate of South Carolina. The scenes are pointedly simple - fields overtaken my kudzu, forgotten peach orchards and overgrown fields - and recall long days spent on horseback exploring her surroundings. But the work is less sentimental than it is dark and moody, with something of an existential quality. "To me, all landscapes are self portraits," Jones says. "Trees serve as surrogates for the human form. Skies reflect mood. Even the lay of the land, whether rolling and expansive or flat and confined, represents less the world around me than a world within." She expresses this with a simplified language of color and form, using a grayed-down palette of greens, blues and violets. She often begins a painting with nothing more than a general idea of what she wants to express: the contrast of a shady path that empties into white-hot sunlight; the silhouette of a hedge at dusk; an eerily still yellow sky. "I prefer to err on the side of simplicity. Too much information and the mystery is spoiled. That's why I paint from memory. It helps me edit extraneous details and focus on shape and shadow, mood and feeling - the elements of landscape painting I like most." Jones has been represented since 2002 by Elder Gallery in Charlotte, where she has been featured in both solo and two-person shows as well as regular gallery exhibitions. Her work is included in private and corporate collections across the United States.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS Anderson Arts Center, Landscape Show, Anderson, SC, January 2003 Conn Gallery, Landrum, SC, April 2003 Wake Forest University, Wake Forest, NC, 2002 Davidson County Community College, Winson-Salem, NC 29th Annual Juried Exhibition of the Spartanburg Artist's Guild Anderson County Juried Exhibition "Landscapes East to West" - ElderArt Gallery, Charlotte, NC Hub City Juried Exhibition, Spartanburg County Museum of Art – Lilian Tone, MOMA, juror, 2001 Going Online, Upstairs Gallery, 2001 S.C. State Fair Juried Exhibition, Columbia, SC 2001 Juried Exhibition of the Spartanburg Artists’ Guild, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 The Board Goes Bananas, Upstairs Gallery, 2001 Mildred Dent Gallery of Fine Art, Spartanburg Day School, 2001 Belton Standpipe Annual Juried Exhibition, 2000 Fur, Feather, Fin, Upstairs Gallery, Tryon NC, 2000 Origins of the Species-ist - Appalachian St. University - Sue Coe, juror, 1999 S.C. State Fair Annual Juried Exhibition – 1999 Winter Solstice - Spartanburg County Museum of Art, 1999 Opening Gala, Cancer Center at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, 1999 Annual Juried Exhibition, Converse College, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Union County Arts Council Invitational Art Exhibition, 1998 Exposed - Spartanburg Museum of Art Exhibition Committee Members 1998 Windows on Main, Spartanburg Medical Auxiliary, 1998 Women’s History Month Exhibit, Converse College, 1998 Things Seen And Unseen - Two-Person Show, Gallery 522, 1997 AWARDS 2002 Best of Show, Anderson County 27th Annual Juried Show 2002 Merit Award, Anderson County 27th Annual Juried Show 2002 Best of Show, Anderson County Juried Exhibition Merit Award, Anderson County Juried Exhibition 2001 Best Of Show, Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg Annual Juried Exhibition 2001 Second Place, Professional Painting and Pastel, 35th Sidewalk Art Show, Spartanburg 2001 Third Place, Professional Drawing Graphics, 35th Sidewalk Art Show, Spartanburg 2001 Third Place, Annual Juried Exhibition, Converse College 2001 First Place, Drawing, Annual Juried Exhibition, Converse College 2000 First Place, Professional Drawing and Graphics, 34th Sidewalk Art Show, Spartanburg 2000 Second Place, Annual Juried Exhibition, Converse College 2000 Terrell Photography Award, Converse College 1999 Third Place, 26th Annual Juried Exhibition of the Spartanburg Artists’ Guild 1999 First Place, Professional Mixed Media, Piedmont Interstate Fair 1999 Second Place, Black and White Photography, Piedmont Interstate Fair 1999 Special Award, Black and White Photography, Piedmont Interstate Fair 1999 Honorable Mention, Annual Juried Exhibition, Converse College 1999 Honorable Mention, Annual Juried Exhibition, Converse College 1998 First Place, Professional Printmaking, Piedmont Interstate Fair 1998 Third Place, Professional Drawing and Graphics, 32nd Sidewalk Art Show, Spartanburg 1998 Honorable Mention, Juried Exhibition, Spartanburg Artists’ Guild 1998 Third Place, Annual Juried Exhibition, Converse College 1997 Best of Show, Annual Juried Exhibition, Converse College 1997 Honorable Mention, Juried Exhibition, Converse College 1997 Second Place, Amateur Drawing - Piedmont Interstate Fair 1997 Third Place, Amateur Mixed Media - Piedmont Interstate Fair MEMBERSHIP, SERVICE AND REPRESENTATION Represented by the ElderArt Gallery, Charlotte, NC Exhibition Committee, Spartanburg County Museum of Art, 1997-present Artists’ Advisory Board, The Upstairs Gallery, Tryon NC, 2000-present Board of Directors, Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg, 2002-present Represented by the Carolina Foothills Artisan Center, 2000-present