Samantha Jones
Sam Jones is a materials-based installation artist living in the coastal woods of Maine. She remains fascinated by the dialogue between the rational and the ecstatic, pairing industrial and synthetic materials with a baroque temperament.
“My current work investigates the relationship between object and image, permeating the boundaries between substance and spirit. The rational, industrial qualities of borosilicate glass are subverted by the constantly dissolving and changing form, which cannot be extricated from its shadow. I believe that this is how matter truly exists- charged with energy, straddling dimensions, poised at the edge of awareness. For me, bringing an idea into the world via materials is a lot like what sci fi author Douglas Adams described as “throwing oneself at the ground and missing” in order to learn how to fly. It is not just about staying open to possibility and letting go of control. Rather, it is intentionally positioning oneself on the precipice, then diving, with nothing but the faith that what is going to happen is something new, that brings the artwork to its fruition.”
Jones holds a PhD from the Institute for Doctoral Studies in Visual Art and an MFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Her dissertation, Wild Care: A Vital Surrealist Inquiry on Loss in the Wood, considers new and vital etho-ecologies within the philosophy of aesthetics.
Jones is an adjunct assistant professor of art at the University of Maine, Orono. She has participated in residencies including the Wormfarm Institute (WI), Vermont Studio Center (VT), Pinea Linea De Costa (Rota, Spain), the International Center for the Arts (Monte Castello Di Vibio, Italy), and Fondation Lac o Le Mon (Lecce, Italy).