Professor Arthur F. Jones (who normally exhibits under the name Art Jones) has taught and served as Art Department Chair at the University of North Dakota since 2003. In addition, he is currently the Director of UND Art Collections. Jones received his BA degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz and his MA and PhD degrees in Art History from Case-Western Reserve University. Before his arrival at UND, Jones taught at the University of Kentucky and served as Art Department Chair at Radford University in Virginia. On three occasions, he was also a Scholar in Residence at the Pollock/Krasner House and Study Center in East Hampton, New York. Over the years, Jones has frequently served as a curator of art exhibitions—producing numerous catalog essays for museums and art galleries as well as other published articles and books. In addition to his achievements as a curator and scholar, Jones has also made and exhibited his own art throughout his professional life.

Early in his career, although Jones had a Ph.D. and worked as an art professor, his artwork was expressively childish in appearance. While much Arthur F. Jones Professor / Department Chair of his work over the past 15 years has involved somewhat more sophisticated techniques, recent pieces reveal Jones’ desire to “progress back” toward his earlier rawer tendencies in an attempt to recapture instinctive impulses he believes are essential for unadulterated creative expression. The themes of Medusa as a Non-Wearable Pendant and Bone of Contention with Barking Squirrel (which is a kinetic piece) emerged from capricious mental pictures formed during Jones’ impromptu manipulation of materials. The title of the former (which was an afterthought) reflects Jones’ fondness for three New York artists who he got to know well during his career. The subject of Medusa has been an important egalitarian feminist theme within Audrey Flack’s sculpture, while Dorothy Gillespie and Ibram Lassaw created small abstract pieces as wearable sculptures—as differentiated from more commercial jewelry. Because of the fragility of solder, however, Jones’ Medusa cannot be worn.
During exhibitions, Jones provides a small mirror next to his work for anyone preferring indirect viewing of Medusa.