As a child, Joell Jones was given big pads of newsprint instead of coloring books. Her mother, Luci, was very supportive of her artwork. Both her mother and grandmother had artistic talent. As early as two years of age she identified herself as an artist. In school teachers called upon her to use her artistic talent, but she remained a self-taught painter. From age seven to fourteen she studied with Elisa Minet Fuches and performed classical ballet. Throughout grade school, high school, and college she was considered an outstanding student, participating in many recognized extra-curricular activities. She made artwork that was realistic, copying nature and its forms with precision. Her father, Reps, a chemical engineer and naturalist, taught her about nature and natural phenomena. The second oldest child in a large family, she grew up in the sub-tropical climates of the Deep South, surrounded by lush and green woods. When she wasn't in school she spent much of her time outside climbing trees and studying the same kinds of creatures that would emerge later in her work.

At Louisiana State University (LSU) at Baton Rouge she focused her undergraduate studies on liberal arts and philosophy, with focus on fine art in her final year. During her senior year, Larry Camp, a teacher in the art department, supported her efforts to break away from realism toward the more freeing mode of abstraction. Toward the end of college, she became involved with the peace and woman's movements, liberating herself from sorority life. In 1970 she received her B.A. and was accepted into LSU's graduate program in fine art, but she married instead and moved from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. The move was a steppingstone from small town to cosmopolitan culture. In New Orleans she befriended Becky Kury, a member of the local music circle. She rode the trolley to the Quarter to look at Abstract Expressionism in the contemporary galleries.

Lacking a mentor, Joell struggled for self-identity and artistic vision. She painted large abstract canvas in acrylic from her internal experience while clerking in an art store and searching for a viable job that would incorporate her experience as an artist. At the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in New Orleans, she found a position running a day program of art and verbal therapy that used her expertise in art as a new means of support.

She moved her husband and herself to Oakland, California to broaden her cultural experience. This was a period of tremendous growing and learning. She worked with psychiatric out-patients in East and Central Oakland for ten years, as an art and verbal therapist.

At sixteen Joell had been diagnosed with scoliosis, and because of a misguided recommendation from her doctor, lived with a lot of pain. In California two major events occurred: She divorced; and she met her first real mentor, Jane Brown, whose teaching of motion therapy (a discipline for self-healing) was in stark contrast to the classical ballet of Joell‘s childhood. Through this healing discipline she learned how to move away from the pain. Recognizing the artistic merit of Joell's work, Jane Brown curated her first solo show of paintings in the theater gallery to coincide with one of her own performances, Evolutionary Studies.

Studying with Jane Brown profoundly affected Joell's work Taking the pain of her body into the realm of hope, she moved the abstraction in her painting into the realm of expressive symbolism, working in a more graphic style. Her painting, The Beginning of the World, depicted a sphere (symbolizing the beginning of the self and hope for the future) rising out of parting waves.

She studied painting with Michelle Cassou at the Painting Experience Studio in San Francisco. Frustrated by having so little time to make art, she went to graduate school in clinical psychology to be able to earn more while working less hours, thereby freeing up more time to paint. Her art practice, mainly for her own experience, continued to be the major motivating factor in her life. In 1984 she received her M.A., with emphasis on creative process, from JFK University in Orinda, California.

After living on her own for an important six years she married Will Wright, who was creatively engaged in computer game development, and began a relationship that continues to strengthen her commitment to creativity. In 1984 she presented a solo show at the Jane Brown and Company Theatre and began to exhibit her paintings in regional and national competitions. A trip to Japan influenced a series of gouache-on-paper paintings, using brightly colored symbols and lines on a black field.

During the late seventies and early eighties, Joell recognized a connection between her paintings and the work of prominent artists. She was validated by Kandinsky's work on the dark fields, the lyrical abstract natural forms of Georgia O'Keeffe, and the nature inspired work of Mississippi artist Walter Anderson. In 1985 she ended her employment as a psychotherapist and in 1986, as she began devoting herself to being a professionally exhibiting artist, her daughter Cassidy was born. She participated in four group shows, including Masterlines: Ideas and Emotions at the Palo Alto Cultural Center in California. She also presented a solo show at Pacifica Arts and Heritage Council Gallery in Pacifica, California called Movements of the Unconscious. Her style kept evolving; working with the imagery she calls The Guide, representing hope, and the awareness that we are always evolving toward a higher self.

To keep painting after her daughter was born she struggled with her materials, working smaller for efficiency. To strengthen her philosophical center and because of her interest in religious practices around the world she resumed her studies in eastern and shamanic beliefs, studying the perennial wisdom of indigenous cultures with Angeles Arrien. She incorporated new knowledge and understandings into her individual philosophy, adding depth to the underpinning of her artwork. During this time Joell created five new series that drew on creature symbols. She began to use stylized representations of pods, flowers, birds, snakes, turtles and sensuous plant forms. With the Earth Mound Series (1988) she began working from sketches. That process allowed more control and precision in her paintings.

In the Bay Area, she connected with a group of Emeryville artists including James Hewes and Mary Ann Merker. She participated in several group shows, including the Hoffman Gallery in Emeryville, and had a solo show, Life Force, at Modern Rites/Ancient Waves Gallery in Larkspur. She joined Pro Arts, an Oakland community based exhibition space, and participated in that organization's Open Studio Tours of the East Bay until 1991 when she moved to Orinda, California.

Her lifelong devotion to peace continues. In 1991 she participated in Peace Works, an exhibition in response to the Gulf War at the Mimosa Cafe Gallery in Oakland. Pomegranate Publications included her work in a postcard book, 30 Contemporary Women Artists, and created a card series of her images. She presented a solo show at JFK University Gallery called The Healing Force. Joell's Maui Orchid Series (inspired by plants seen on a trip to Maui) was displayed at Art Here Gallery in Albany, CA.

The Oakland Hills Fire of October 1991 destroyed Joell's home and studio and all of her existing work that had not been sold or collected. The devastation of the fire, that she and her family narrowly escaped, translated into new work in the studio of her new home. She began to let go of the controlled style she had developed with the Firestorm Series and became engaged in promoting her work as a voice of hope and healing in her community. She participated in four art exhibitions in the region, including the Berkeley Art Center's Forged by Fire, that focused on artists who had experienced the fire. In a Documentary film by Ray Gatchalian, Fire Within, she was one of three featured artists. She connected with three other artists who lost homes/studios in the fire: Jeanne Jabbour, Marcy Voyebod, Darrell Hunger. They formed a group that would reconnect through the years to support each others' art.

In 1992 as a Guest Artist for Performance at Orches Theatre in Oakland three paintings were used as inspiration for a three-part dance suite by Vicki Gunter, and in 1993 The Root Series evolved from a trapped/escape motif in The Firestorm Series.

With The Ocean Series she broke new ground. She shifted from gouache alone to mixed media on paper, developing an expressive three-dimensional, playful illusion. Her freedom in abstraction returned and she integrated her stylized symbols. She studied printmaking with Richard Urban creating Scissor Tail, The Ocean Series Suite, and The Guide Series. She exhibited two paintings from The Ocean Series at the Lynn Prince Gallery in Poughkeepsie, New York and gave a solo show at the Orches Theatre Gallery in Oakland, California.

The 60th Street Gallery that she founded in Oakland with James Hewes served as an alternative exhibition space for local artists who had persevered over time in their creative contribution to the Bay Area. Joell exhibited her work with Hewes in The Inaugural Show. She also participated as a visiting artist in the Orinda Public Schools, and became a member of the founding Board of Directors of the Lamorinda Arts Alliance created by local artist Dorothy Cartright Davis. Random House/Pantheon Books used one of her Earth Mound paintings for the cover of An Unspoken Hunger by Terry Tempest Williams. Newsweek then used the book cover to illustrate an article by Tames M. Baker about the book.

In her new work, having pushed water base material on paper to its limits, Joell returns to canvas using acrylic and oil paints. She remains deeply committed to sharing with her community. In June 1995 she participated in the group show, It's in the Mail, at the California Museum of Art in Santa Rosa. In 1996 she showed The Ocean Series at the Maxis Gallery in Walnut Creek, California, and the Rose Café Gallery in Santa Monica. Crossing an ocean to share The Ocean Series with another culture, Joell's exhibition at the Miyuki Gallery in 1996 in Tokyo, Japan became the influence for her next body of work: The Mountain Room. Inspired by Mt. Fuji and Japanese art related to the cone and mountain shape, work on The Mountain Room installation began.

Joell exhibited her Geometric Series of large shaped canvases in acrylic with partner Jim Hewes' sculpture which was based on Islamic geometry. Reaching the limits of her exploration in two-dimensional art, she began to move toward sculpture herself. At the SOMAR Gallery in San Francisco she participated in a spirituality-themed group show with The Ocean Series as well as with earlier gouache paintings. Janette MacKinlay curated the show that brought The Mountain Room to SoHo, in New York City. Joell presented her experimental table sculptures in a 15 x 22 ft. space. Because that beginning exhibition received a very good response The Mountain Room has continued to grow – to Fifty-four elaborate table sculptures, some of which are interactive, others meant to be handled and explored.

Joell participated in and completed Cay Lang's professional practices workshop for artists. The Taking the Leap course included a group show at the Hollis Street Project where Joell presented several new Mountain Room sculptures. She began working on the sound track for The Mountain Room installation with composer Anne Hege, and began her new City Series in 1999.

For New Year's Eve festivities, Joell created The Millennium Booth. At the 60th Street Gallery she installed The Mountain Room in a 30 x 30 ft. space with a foyer and a cloth covered entrance. The soundtrack meanders with the viewer. An Artship Foundation Show in Oakland, Altars and Icons, showed three table sculptures from The Mountain Room. With The Mountain Room installed at the 60th Street Gallery, Joell moved her creative work to the Fort Apache Studios in Oakland. Here she organized Open Studios involving other artists and musicians. She curated a show in her studio that invited the Firestorm Group for a reunion exhibition of new work (ten years after the group's formation). She also began The Mountain Room video, with James Hewes filming, and Joell learning and creating stop-motion animation. This 9-minute PR video was her first to direct and produce.

Joell created her Gallery @ the Fort (in the Fort Apache Studios building) with on-going shows of local artists and friends. She formed FBM Studios and began a second video project using The Mountain Room as the stage set for a story about the search for happiness and the importance of being creative. She continues the Big City Series – futuristic cities with positive intent – and wall pieces that combine the images of two-dimensional artist Jeanne Jabbour and Marcy Voyevod with her own sculptures.

Joell started the Fort Center for Creativity with Jeanne Jabbour, dedicated to promoting the importance of creativity in our everyday lives and in solving problems in the world, providing a space for creative intermingling. FBM Studios premiered Sojourn for Saroon, a video created with Nick Soelter, Cameron Clark, and James Minton. The Big City installation and the City Series premiered during the East Bay Open Studios. The Big City is Joell's futuristic city that can be entered and traversed. It occupies a 22 x 26 ft. space and contains twenty-six 4 to 7 ft. tall towers that form the city. One enters through a forest. Dancing in the lighted streets is encouraged by the original soundtrack. A dancer, Vicki Gunter, disguised as a resident of The Big City performed four times during Open Studios. With FBM Studios Joell began work on another video project featuring the City Series as stage sets in a quazi-documentary using bluescreen techiques and interviews. The Big City continues to be embellished with the addition of a background mural, extending the "forest" all around the city.