Heather Jones

Heather Jones is an artist who uses abstraction and color to comment on the historical and socio-political relationship between women and textiles, and explores the relationship between gender, place, time, and culture in her work. Her practice continues the story of geometric abstraction inherent to women’s patchwork found in the Southern and Appalachian regions of the US, and her work is steeped in the history of quilt making and a vast group of unknown female makers. The subject of her work is unequivocally feminist: she chooses to work with fabric rather than paint, in reference and reverence to the fact that the fiber arts were often the only type of art that a woman was encouraged to practice for many years throughout history. Conceptually, Jones’ work carries on the tradition of woman as maker, pushes the boundary between fine art and craft, and questions the definition of painting. She documents the story of our current world, particularly the female narratives that are often neglected from history. By working with geometric compositions, Jones creates a universal visual language to tell these stories, using textiles as a reference to issues of domesticity. 

Jones is represented by Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, Ohio; the George Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina; Moremen Gallery, Louisville, Kentucky; Imlay Gallery, Lummi Island, WA; and Slate Contemporary, Oakland, California. She was selected as an artist-in-residence for Kehinde Wiley’s inaugural class at Black Rock Senegal, and worked there in October 2019. Jones’ solo exhibition, Storytellers, opened in February 2022 at the Contemporary Dayton (Ohio), one of three concurrent solo exhibitions featuring the work of Jones, Odili Donald Odita, and Jeffrey Gibson. She is also working on her first solo exhibit in New York City at David Richard Gallery which will open in February 2022.

Her work has been exhibited widely at national and international venues including the Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH (solo); Weston Art Gallery, Cincinnati, OH (solo); Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH (solo); Art on Paper, New York, NY; Aqua Art Miami, Miami, FL; Marta Hewett Gallery, Cincinnati, OH; Iowa Quilt Museum, Winterset, IA; New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA; Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY; the University of California, Berkley, CA; Boecker Contemporary, Heidelberg, Germany; drj- dr. julius | ap, Berlin, Germany; Five Walls, Melbourne, Australia; and M17 Contemporary Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine. Jones’ first book, Quilt Local: Finding Inspiration in the Everyday was released in October 2015 by STC Craft, an imprint of Abrams, New York.

A native Cincinnatian, Jones studied art history at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning, earning both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts (ABT). She currently lives outside of Cincinnati, Ohio on a small farm with her husband and two children.

My practice continues the history of geometric abstraction inherent to women’s patchwork, and my work is steeped in the history of quilt making and a vast group of unknown female makers. The subject of my work is unequivocally feminist; I choose to work with fabric rather than paint, in reference and reverence to the fact that the fiber arts were often the only type of art that a woman was encouraged to practice for many years. Conceptually, my work carries on the tradition of woman as maker, pushes the boundary between fine art and craft, and questions the definition of painting. I document the story of our current world, particularly the female narratives that are often neglected from history. By working with geometric compositions, I create a universal visual language to tell these stories, using textiles as a reference to issues of domesticity. I am drawn to fabric, to its familiarity, its inherent qualities of saturated color and textural luminosity, and its invitation to be touched. Fabric reflects, captures, and interacts with light in a way that no paint can. By manipulating fabric and pulling it taut, seam lines shift and stretch, revealing their final placement only once the work is finished; I embrace these moments of chance and improvisation, both of which play an important role in my practice.

I am also interested in the historical and socio-political relationship between women and textiles, including women’s work and issues of domesticity. Having grown up in Ohio, on the outskirts of Appalachia, I explore the relationship between gender, place, time, and culture in my practice. I am interested in the traditions that are passed down from generation to generation, and how they evolve over time. My work acts as a rumination on the nation’s past, what it can be in the future, and how we can patch and repair the damage that occurs in the tumultuous present. The practice of stitching individual pieces of fabric together acts as a metaphor for rebuilding.

My black and white pieces, in particular, are a response to the time I spent in Dakar, .Senegal, on the western coast of Africa, during my time as an artist-in-residence at Black Rock Senegal, founded by Kehinde Wiley, in 2019. That experience had a profound impact on me, as well as my practice, and my current body of work investigates the influence of African traditional patchwork on American patchwork from the South and how traditions connect us with our ancestors.

Education

            Master of Arts (all but thesis), Art History

            University of Cincinnati

            College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning

            2001

 

            Bachelor of Arts, Art History

            University of Cincinnati

            College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning

            University of Cincinnati

            1999

 

Monograph                           

Jones, Heather. Quilt Local: Finding Inspiration in the Everyday. New York: Abrams, 2015                

Residencies

            Silver Art Projects Residency
            New York, NY
            September 2021-February 2022

            Cuttyhunk Island Artists’ Residency
            Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts
            September 2021

            Black Rock Senegal
            Dakar, Senegal, Africa
            October 2019

 

Collections:

Fidelity Investments Corporate Art Collection
The Shands Collection, Louisville, KY
The Sara and Michelle Vance Waddell Collection, Cincinnati, OH
The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH
The Pete Scantland Collection, Columbus, OH
Port Authority, Charleston, SC
Stiftung Konzeptuelle Kunst, Soest, Germany

           

 

Selected Solo / Two Person Exhibitions   

2022

             Storytellers, The Contemporary Dayton, Dayton, Ohio

             Title TBD, David Richard Gallery, New York, NY

2021

            "A Sense of Place,” Weston Art Gallery, Cincinnati, OH

            “Convergence,” Moremen Gallery, Louisville, KY

2020  

            “Beyond Black Rock,” Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH

            “Exchange: New Work by Heather Jones,” The George Gallery, Charleston, SC

2019  

            “Don’t Let It Go Out,” Susan Moreman Gallery, Louisville, KY (two person)

            “Some Remain: Heather Jones and Jeffrey Cortland Jones,” Volunteer State College Art Gallery, Nashville, TN (two person)

2018          

             “And There Is A Light,” St. Edward's University, Austin, TX (two person)

             “Between Earth and Sky,” Marta Hewett Gallery, Cincinnati, OH  (two person)

2017         

             “A Sense of Home: New Quilts by Heather Jones,” Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH

             “Lines on the Horizon,” Marshall University, Huntington, WV (two person)

             “Tells the Next One,” Divisible, Dayton, OH

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022

            Dakar Biennial with Black Rock Senegal

2021

            “To Wish Impossible Things,” Divisible, Dayton, Ohio

            “Postcards From the Edge,” Visual AIDS, New York, NY

            “Drip,” Off Ludlow Gallery, Cincinnati, OH

            “Cocoon: Fibers of Home,” 1628 LTD., Cincinnati, OH

2020  

            “Chrysalistasis,” Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY

            “SPRING/BREAK Art Show,” New York, NY

            “14C Art Fair,” Jersey City, NJ

            “Holiday Pop-Up,” Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH

            “The Shands Collection: New Directions,” Quappi Projects, Louisville, KY

            “With Devotion,” The Contemporary, Dayton, OH

            “Material | Fiber,” The University of Dayton, Dayton, OH

            “Pantone Classic Blue,” Slate Contemporary, Oakland, CA

            “Grey / Gray (Matters),” Divisible Projects, Dayton, OH

            “Piece and Plane,” Slate Contemporary, Oakland, CA

2019          

            “Aqua Art Miami,” with Imlay Gallery, Miami, FL

            “Aligned: the Art of Design,” 1628 LTD, Cincinnati, OH

            “CENTURY. idee Bauhaus,” POSITIONS Art Fair with Dr. Julius | AP, Berlin, Germany

            “New Modern,” Five Walls, Melbourne, Australia

            “CENTURY. idee Bauhaus,” Dr. Julius | AP, Berlin, Germany

            “Big Circle: International Collaborative Project of Contemporary Non-Objective Art,” M17 Contemporary Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine

            “Biennale of International Reductive and Non-Objective Art”, West Projects, Sydney, Australia

            “Design on a Dime NYC: Housing Works,” with Erick Espinoza, New York, NY

            "Postcards from the Edge," Bortolami, New York, NY

            “/just to be alive/,” 1628 LTD, Cincinnati, OH  

             “RNOP: Sydney. The Road Paintings” Parramatta, Sydney, Australia  

            “Deep Roots,” Jenner McGinn Studio, Atlanta, GA

            “Art Palm Beach, Contemporary Art Fair,” with Imlay Gallery, Palm Beach, FL

2018          

            “Aqua Art Miami,” with Imlay Gallery, Miami, FL

            “Launch Party,” Jenner McGinn Studio, Atlanta, GA

            “Small Works,” The George Gallery, Charleston, SC

            “Sculpture Objects Functional Art,” with Imlay Gallery, Chicago, IL

            “RNOP: Cincinnati. New Work For A New System,” Smith & Co.,  Cincinnati, OH

            “Art on Paper,” with Imlay Gallery, New York, NY

             “Affordable Art Fair,” with Imlay Gallery, New York, NY

             “Woven: Contemporary Textiles,” Marta Hewett Gallery, Cincinnati, OH

             "Postcards from the Edge," Gallery 524, New York, NY

             “Reveal Art Fair,” with Imlay Gallery, Saratoga Springs, NY

2017          

             “The Other Thing,” The Carnegie, Covington, KY

             “Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us) v.2,” traveling University of California, Berkley, CA

             Raygun Projects, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

             Class Room, Coventry, England

 

2016          

            “Three Centuries of Red + White Quilts,” Iowa Quilt Museum, Winterset, IA

            “Roots of Modern Quilting,” New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA

            "Postcards from the Edge," Sikkema Jenkins, New York, NY

            “Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us) v.2,” traveling

            Angelika Studios, High Wycombe, England

            Boecker Contemporary, Heidelberg, Germany

 

Visting Artist:

University of Dayton

February 2017

St. Edwards University
Austin, Texas

October 2018

 

Marshall University

Huntington, West Virginia

October 2017