Jess Jones

Jess Jones is a textile artist and Associate Professor of Textiles at Georgia State
University in Atlanta as well as Affiliate Faculty with the Institute of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Jones' work, which has been exhibited all over the United States, examines psycho-geography, textiles' relationship to the urban environment along with the creation of digitally derived layered and stitched compositions. Jones, along with collaborator Dr. Susan Richmond, was recently awarded a Project Grant from the Center for Craft in Asheville, NC for the Lost Weavings of Atlanta project. This project recovers the history of the Fiber Art movement in Atlanta, GA. She has been an artist in residence at multiple institutions, including the nearby Penland School of Craft.

“A few years ago, I received a bag of fabric yo-yos from a family member at the funeral for my grandmother— a gift that I thought was both tender and curious. I began collecting yo-yos, receiving them as gifts, buying them at thrift stores, and making many more. I had no idea at the time why I did this except that I find labor cathartic. I often use it to process grief and I am certain that others do too. For me, this work is simultaneously full of sorrow and joy, darkness and light.”