By Grant Terwilliger
Senior art major Katie Jones takes inspiration from her childhood in Bennington, Vermont, as well as New York and Connecticut to create her abstract interpretations of nature.
Jones has had a love for art since she was young creating art out of everything around her, including creating art out of her dinner. Jones has a painting concentration at SUNY Plattsburgh and along her journey she has evolved her artistic style.
“I used to take my recycling from the garbage when I was four, and make sculptures out of it,” Jones said. “Anything I could get my hands on I would try to create something out of. I would make origami out of my homework when I was younger and I never did the math, just the origami.”
Jones has evolved her artistic style during her time at Plattsburgh, but has always been inspired by mountains and landscapes. The curvatures of the land and the rocky textures of mountains play a big role in Jones artistic style.
“I really like nature and I love mountains and snow. I like the texture of mountains. I’ve got really bad eyesight so for me from far away all mountains just look like texture lines,” Jones said.
Jones has worked with many different mediums and techniques to find what works the best in her art. One of her art teachers pushed her to develop her own style through the use of a different arsenal of tools and techniques.
“I mostly use oil paint, but I don’t use brushes. I only do palette knives. I’ve recently gotten to incorporating spray paint and stuff into my work, so I’ve gone a little more abstract with a graffiti kind of style,” Jones said
Jones’ artistic process differs from her peers. She doesn’t do any sketches before painting and instead slaps paint down on a canvas and allows the creativity to flow to her as she makes out what she wants to paint. She puts down mid tone paint first, then dark paints and light paints continuing the process until the piece is completed.
Jones has always wanted to create and has been creating art for most of her life. She decided to come to Plattsburgh to pursue her creative path and become a painter and a teacher of the arts.
“I knew from elementary school I was going to be a painter. I’m going to be an art teacher and get my teaching certificate right after college. So I knew I wanted to paint. I knew I wanted to create. Nothing else was in the books for me,” Jones said.
