JOELL JONES: AUSPICIOUS SERIES 2007-2008

My work erupts from an inner life, full of symbols that give me a visual way to speak with my inner voice.

This series is a comment on my emotional state during the early spring of this year. I was beginning to emerge from a very dark time and was reading a book about eastern philosophy. A chapter in the book spoke about auspicious coincidence and that phrase engaged me creatively.

I grasped the word auspicious from there.
I grasped the idea that my life is auspicious and that having a life is auspicious.
I was at that high point after coming through darkness.
Like recovering from a bad illness.
I embraced this idea full force, as a way of balancing the dark time.
I embrace it in my work

Four elements presented themselves and became interwoven in this piece.
1. Handmade felt
2. Antique and vintage lace
3. My personal symbols
4. The word auspicious

Auspicious coincidence brought the specific elements together. I bound them together in this soft sculpture.

Personal symbols, reproduced on fabric from my gouache paintings, represent balance and inspiration.

This work is a mini-glimpse—a visual representation—of the way, if we are present in our lives, we attract the ingredients to help us move forward.

My deep appreciation to Cory Gunter Brown for her artistic help and emotional support
in creating this piece over a 6-months period.