BIO + ARTIST STATEMENT

Amanda Barry Jones is a multidisciplinary artist with a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture and Ceramics, known for her work with clay and glaze. Her work draws from the natural world, shaped by memory and time, exploring imagined environments where earth meets the sky and beyond. She has been teaching ceramics since 2014 and currently serves as the Head of the Art Department and Art Gallery at Galveston College.

Born in Beaumont, Texas, and now based in Houston, Jones draws from landscapes and experiences that have shaped her sense of place, while allowing many environments to remain imagined rather than literal. Her work often suggests expansive terrains, including wetlands, mountains, and shifting horizons, where animals appear as embedded presences rather than specific narratives. These animal and spirit forms are introduced as points of focus within the landscape, alongside recurring celestial elements such as the sun and moon, allowing the flow of glaze to soften and shift them toward abstraction.

Central to Jones’s practice is an ongoing investigation of geology and glaze chemistry. The sun and moon recur as visual elements throughout her ceramic wall works. Achieving a true circular form through fluxing glazes requires firing the work flat so molten glaze can move and settle evenly across the surface. Through extensive testing of glaze combinations over many years, she has developed palettes that produce luminous, haloed effects through intentional experimentation.

These processes allow the work to dissolve into dreamlike environments, where imagery is shaped by glaze behavior rather than precise detail. Through color, light, and material response, the work reflects a quiet exchange between the earthly and the cosmic, allowing each piece to function as a contemplative, imagined world.