Ruth Elizabeth Jones smoothing layers of coil-built clay in her studio in Dumfries and Galloway | Photography © Lydia Smith
Ruth Elizabeth Jones
Ceramic Artist
Ruth Elizabeth Jones’s work has a deep connection to ancient traditions, using coil-building techniques to create vessels that reflect the strength and wisdom of matriarchal cultures.
Jones’s practice centres on the vessel form, using coil-building techniques dating back to matriarchal Neolithic pottery cultures, and making ongoing reference to the female
ceramic record. Jones focuses on the materiality of clay, developing large sculptural vessels which balance inner volume and outer form.
The smoke-firing process imbues her sculptures with a sense of ancient wisdom and elemental power, echoing the mystical traditions of the past.
Three vessels are presented for Hag. – a Mother Vessel, a Female Ancestor and an Offspring – inviting contemplation of the timeless connection between humans and the earth.
Biography
Ruth Elizabeth Jones’s practice centres on the vessel form, using coil-building techniques dating back to matriarchal Neolithic pottery cultures, and making ongoing reference to the female ceramic record. Jones focuses on the materiality of clay, developing large sculptural vessels which balance inner volume and outer form. The smoke-firing process imparts a distinctive finish to her pieces which aim to achieve the stillness of a quiet holding or containing space.
Jones’s affinity with clay has been lifelong. After studying studio ceramics in the Midlands in the 1980s she established studios in Derby and then rural Southwest Scotland, where she continues to live and work.
Jones is currently represented by Ruup & Form, London, and Brown’s Gallery, Inverness. Recent exhibitions include the Ruup & Form London Art Fair presentation (2024); Secret Ceramics, SoShiro, London, (2024); Collect, Somerset House, London (2023); Winter Exhibition, Ruup & Form, London, (2023).