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 women were 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.
Jones is represented by David Richard Gallery, New York, NY; 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’ 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.
Visiting Artist Lecture Series with assistance from the Agnes Croll Blackburne Visiting Artist and Scholars fund and the Elise Zeller Sauer Fund for Fine Arts.
