Here hangs “Journey to The Sea I & II” a testament to Fay Jones’s esteemed artistry. Jones began exhibiting in Seattle in 1970 and she quickly became one of the Northwest’s most appreciated artists.
Fay Jones’s paintings resonate deeply. Her work appeals to sophisticated curators and casual art lovers. Other artists also appreciate her work. In 1996, the Boise Art Museum organized a retrospective that traveled to the Seattle Art Museum. Jones received the Twining Humber Award for lifetime achievement in 2005. She was named PONCHO Artist of the Year in 2006.
Consider Jones’s early life. Fay Jones grew up in a literate environment. Her father taught writing. He was an early faculty member at Bread Loaf. Bread Loaf is the acclaimed summer English program of Middlebury College. Her father’s great-grandfather edited the abolitionist newspaper The National Era. This newspaper first published Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
In 1950, the Baileys bought a small hotel. Fay’s mother worked tirelessly. Fay helped care for her younger siblings. She also worked in the kitchen and befriended the cook Dave Ring. Dave was Fay’s earliest mentor. He taught her how to spot a phony.
Always drawing, Fay knew she wanted to be an artist from a young age. When artist Inga Pratt gave her a watercolor set, that was it. She was 11 years old. Pratt’s gift set her on her path.
Jones met Robert C. Jones in 1956. Robert was a drawing instructor. They married the following year. When her two older kids went off to school, Fay could grab some time in the afternoons to begin making art again. Working on a table in the bedroom, she began painting in a small format. The pictures could easily be stashed out of the way.
Jones had her first painting exhibit in 1970. She destroyed all her previous work from art school. Her early work was diaristic. She created figural compositions in outdoor settings. These explored her reflections on social conventions. They also explored interpersonal relationships.
Jones was selected for a public art commission in the mid-1980s. She created a mural design for the downtown bus tunnel. The mural was executed in enduring tile. The bus tunnel might someday become an enduring historical image of our place and time. That’s proven true.
Jones’s work makes the intangible tangible. She mixes autobiography with social commentary. Her figures often look like mimes. They sometimes resemble Japanese Noh actors. This infuses the work with drama. It also adds a sense of ritual.
Jones describes her work as fiction set in the present. She draws on vivid memory and quirky observations. Jones sees Philip Guston as a primary influence.
Fay Jones’s affection for history led her to a new exploration in 2000. Working in watercolor, she recreated Goya’s Los Caprichos. She said the paintings are literally copies. They gave her nourishment.
Jones’s work is suggestive. Viewers can imagine their own storylines. Typical Jones tropes include twins, veils, sailors and skirts. She also includes donkeys, buddha babies, and amaranthus. Amaranthus is commonly called “love lies bleeding”.
T. S. Eliot said good poetry communicates before it is understood. The same is true of Fay Jones’s paintings. Even when we can’t make sense of them logically, the images pass along a message. This message can be poignant, hilarious, profound, and a little scary. Explaining a Jones painting is like paraphrasing a poem. Once you’ve reduced it to prose, you’ve lost the magic.