States of I MARY JONES & JOLYNN REIGELUTH

LOCATED IN THE SWEENEY GALLERY

Artist Statement and Bio: Mary Jones

Mary Jones makes maps of the wilderness of personal history. Images and words are layered out of time and perspective; space is described by the inhabitants, whose journeys are being told. Details get piled on in the way that life is lived– in steps, notes, beats, breaths, and marks. Jones is a scavenger, and whether drawing or working in print media, collage is always an element.

Prior to moving to the Des Moines area, Jones lived in Chicago, where she exhibited at Ann Nathan Gallery. She was employed as an illustrator and designer, with work published by the Chicago Tribune, Playboy Magazine, and the Philadelphia Enquirer, among other publications. She was awarded residencies with the Ragdale Foundation, and with Anchor Graphics in Chicago. Twice she has taught photopolymer intaglio workshops for Frogman’s Print Workshops in Omaha, NE. For the past 14 years, she taught printmaking, design, and book arts courses Grand View University in Des Moines. She has work in several public collections, including the Illinois State Museum, and the Alter Collection of Art by Women at PAFA in Philadelphia. She is represented by Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee and Moberg Gallery in Des Moines. She is a 2018-19 Iowa Arts Council Fellow.

Artist Statement and Bio: Jolynn Reigeluth

Jolynn Reigeluth is an artist originally from Des Moines, Iowa currently living and working in Indianapolis, Indiana. She earned her MFA in printmaking from Kansas State University in 2015. Currently she teaches courses at Indiana Wesleyan University, and annually curates a national printmaking exhibition and portfolio for the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in Indianapolis. In recent years, her work has been included in exhibitions across the United States including the Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition, Pacific States Biennial North American Printmaking Exhibition, and others

Reigeluth’s work has long been influenced by a wide range of art, music, TV, movies, etcetera emerging from the 1920s to 1960s, despite being born in the late 80s. She grew up watching cartoons from Fleishcer Studios like Betty Boop, Bimbo, Felix the Cat, Popeye and others. She also senses an influence from a range of blues and jazz artists from the 1920s to 40s like Lil’ Johnson and Cats and the Fiddle, who performed songs with titles such as Hot Nuts and Sam, the Hot Dog Man. These influences play an important role in her work which has been described as evocative of “the atomic and plastics age of the mid-century.” (Michaela Mullin, Moberg Gallery.) Reigeluth has a distinct affinity for the absurd and scatological that manifests in these introspective self-portraits. The imagery is fueled by humor and spontaneity, and is filled with an inventiveness and ambiguity of subject that ranges from cheekily adolescent to darkly absurd.

Current Work: https://www.jolynnreigeluth.com/prints-and-drawings