Maryland Printmakers

FEATURED ARTISTS: 
MICHAEL JONES
An interview with the artist,
by Shireen Holman

As It Should Be by Michael Jones, 2000, silkscreen on canvas, 14" x 11"

Michael Jones has been a member of Maryland Printmakers since the organization began in 1989. He started his career as an illustrator and graphic designer. After graduating from the Massachusetts College of Art with a BFA in illustration, he spent several years designing signs, letterheads and posters, painting murals, and teaching workshops for children. He was then recruited by the Dean of Graduate students at Maryland Institute College of Art, and moved to Baltimore. While working towards his Masters in painting, Michael became very interested in printmaking and ended up taking six years of printmaking classes with Sam Peters, John Sparks, and others. He is still involved in teaching workshops, primarily in places that, he says, “elevate printmaking” - places such as School 33, Maryland Art Place, and senior homes.

Michael feels that, in spite of all the years he spent in formal studies, he is never done with learning. “My whole philosophy is that I’m always learning,” he said. “I’m always moving to the next step, the next stage. Even if I’m walking down the street and I see how light strikes a building, I’ll stop and take a picture of it to study and use later. On the conveyor belt of life, I’m just a baby. When I see interesting things in music, on the street, or in other artwork, I can add those to what I’m doing. I don’t take myself so seriously that I can’t learn from others, and change.” Michael uses the print shop at MICA for his work. He enjoys sharing his prints and ideas with the students, and takes advantage of that opportunity as a mutual teaching/learning experience.

Left: I Thought I Would Stop and Smell the Roses by Michael Jones, etching, 8 1/2" x 11"

Right: Every Little Thing by Michael Jones, 1997, silkscreen on canvas, 14" x 11"

“Epiphany Books” is the title of Michael’s current project. He is now working on the first of this series of comic books representing a change in his life and way of working. The books are artist’s books, consisting of silkscreen prints that will be hand printed and sewn. They will have hard covers made of Davey board covered with color screenprints on canvas. Inside the books are self-portraits, all of them black-and-white photo silkscreens. The portraits depict a combination of dreams and events from real life. Michael says that he uses a lot of his personal experiences in his art. “In order for me to deal with life, it has to come out in my work.” The theme of epiphany is very recent for him. For 14 years he worked part time as a security guard at MICA. Last summer, he felt that he needed to stop what he was doing, reconsider, and make a change in his life.

“Printmaking,” Michael says, “is fun for me, although it’s hard work. You’ll mess up, try again, put a new image on your stone, plate or screen. Something will happen. You hope that something beyond you will get created when you’re done.” He feels that he was fortunate to have realized at a young age that he was given a gift, and that to be able to use it is fun. “Some people get off on drugs or fast cars, but I get off by seeing a print that I’ve put a lot of blood and sweat into.” He loves the possibilities in printmaking. He likes both the old master techniques and modern photographic techniques. He uses his love of drawing and painting to combine elements from his pen-and-inks, watercolors and acrylics in his prints. It is important to him to be able to “transform an image by hand, to have made something here and now by hand, by myself. People in the future can say - here’s a print that Mike made in 2001. In between bouts of depression and poverty, I can say that I had fun.”