Welcome to Maria Jones Art
Artist Statement
A doorway is a point of passage and in this "space" a line is drawn over you. It is also a vehicle that defines when and sometimes how we arrive at our next destination.
I am interested in exploring what lies between the "in and the out" and "the entry and the exit." It is the notion of what is happening in the space between things and between people that informs my work. I immerse myself in this softness of sanctuary that I refer to as the, "in between" which is filled with memory.
Biography
Maria Lise Jones is an intuitive abstract mark maker who creates ethereal moments on paper with fire. She holds a candle to the paper until the fire makes its mark in black to grey shades. This technique is called Fumage, French for smoking. Since her discovery of the Fumage technique in college, Maria has developed her own techniques to create unique marks, marrying the smokey impressions with her own gestural, intuitive style. Maria captures the moments where the flame and paper meet, an exciting and unpredictable act. She paints with fire for its unique quality of form, for the challenge of a potentially disastrous outcome, and for its endless metaphors and symbols. Maria’s art practice further extends from Fumage to working with mixed media such as chalk pastel, earth pigments, gel mediums, and cut out paper collage of her own design.
Maria graduated with honours from the Fine Art program in 2003 at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario. She has shown in juried exhibitions and galleries around Toronto and Japan, and her work can be found in private and corporate Canadian collections. In 2007 Maria chose to step away and focus on her family and reenergize her art practice. Maria has reemerged as a full-time artist and currently works in her home studio in the city of Kawartha Lakes, Ontario.
Currriculum Vitae
Georgian College, Barrie, Ontario
Diploma of Fine Art, Graduated with Honours, 2003
- Colborne Street Gallery, Fenelon Falls, Ontario, Teeny: An Exhibition of Small Artworks, June 22 – September 24, 2023
- Colborne Street Gallery, Fenelon Falls, Ontario, Work on Paper, April 8, 2022 – March 31, 2023
- Colborne Street Gallery, Fenelon Falls Ontario, A Holiday Art Market, November 3 – December 30, 2022
- Kawartha Art Gallery, Lindsay, Ontario, Radical Landscapes A Juried Visual Art Exhibition, October 18 - November 17, 2022
- Art Gallery of Ontario, Portraits of Resilience Project were highlighted in the AGO exhibition, I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces. Curators have assembled a digital tribute to the Portraits of Resilience Project, presenting a slide show of images featured in the online gallery. April 16-24, 2022
- Art Gallery of Ontario, online group exhibition, Portraits of Resilience, Spring of 2021-2022
- Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Nathan Phillips Square Toronto, Ontario July of 2003-2007
- Eastern Front Gallery, Artist Run Centre, Toronto, Ontario, member 2007.
- A.W.O.L. Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, The Square Foot Show, August 2006
- Hang Man Gallery, Artists Network of Riverdale, Toronto, Ontario, Group Exhibit, 2006
- Queen West Art Crawl, Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto, Ontario September 2006
- Art Square Gallery Toronto, Ontario, “Smoke and Spice and Everything Nice” a two person exhibition, Gill A. Birol, Jeweller and Maria Lise Jones, Fumage paintings, November 30 - December 17, 2006
- Toronto Art Expo, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario March of 2006 and 2007
- Sagamihara Citizen’s Gallery, Sagamihara, Japan. Invited with four other Canadian artists by the Sagamihara Artists Association to exhibit and celebrate their 15th Anniversary, 2006
- The Roundhouse Art Gallery, Group show, Steam Whistle Brewery, Toronto, Ontario 2006
- Canvas Gallery, Toronto, Ontario. Sold mixed media works on paper, 2003-2004