River Birch Studios ~~ Pottery and Photography
Kimberly G. Jones welcomes you to this website. I decided it's time for a place to show pictures of my pottery and to also share my art photography.
I wanted to be an artist from the time I was in grade school. This was the plan if developing a career as an international spy didn't pan out. I loved to draw, and when I wasn't doing that, I read books.
In my sophomore year of high school, I was able to select an art class from an array of choices. I asked my advisor if she knew what Printmaking was, as I had no idea. She told me that she thought it was something akin to Shop class, and that it would likely be filled with boys and I probably wouldn't like it. So that's what I signed up for -- not because I wanted to be around boys (being a rather shy person), but even at that age I wasn't going to permit an opportunity to be closed to me based on something so arbitrary as gender.
I received my BFA in Printmaking from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1978. A couple of years later, my husband and I moved to Evanston IL. In addition to working downtown, I took photography classes at the nearby Evanston Art Center, and then eventually also at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I received my MFA in Photography from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1985.
In the early 1990s, I returned to the Evanston Art Center to learn to make pottery. I realized that I have a great love of ceramics and wondered if I might learn that craft well enough to make pieces that I might want to use. Over time, I discovered that others liked these pieces as well.
Our family of four lived in Petoskey MI during the years 1998-2006. For a time, we owned a studio/gallery building where I continued to make pottery and my husband built custom furniture in the Arts & Crafts tradition. However, his primary career in another business became all-consuming, so we closed our joint business and I moved my studio into our home.
In 2010, I decided it was time to learn the digital aspects of photography, as I had a growing desire to once again make pictures. I -- again -- took classes to learn to use Photoshop at the Evanston Art Center in 2010 and 2011. I currently make photographs of the scenes around the areas of northern Michigan which I love so much, in addition to making fantastical photo collages.
I now split my time between my home studio in Petoskey and the studios at the Midwest Clay Guild in the Chicago area. You can visit our website here: http://www.midwestclayguild.org/ Please copy and paste into your browser.
My work can be purchased in Petoskey at the Northern Michigan Artists Market and at Sawbridge Studios in Winnetka IL. I currently sell my pottery there and will soon be adding notecards from some of the images you can see on the Photography page. The gallery can be accessed here: http://www.nmam.us/ Again, please copy and paste into your browser.
I wanted to be an artist from the time I was in grade school. This was the plan if developing a career as an international spy didn't pan out. I loved to draw, and when I wasn't doing that, I read books.
In my sophomore year of high school, I was able to select an art class from an array of choices. I asked my advisor if she knew what Printmaking was, as I had no idea. She told me that she thought it was something akin to Shop class, and that it would likely be filled with boys and I probably wouldn't like it. So that's what I signed up for -- not because I wanted to be around boys (being a rather shy person), but even at that age I wasn't going to permit an opportunity to be closed to me based on something so arbitrary as gender.
I received my BFA in Printmaking from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1978. A couple of years later, my husband and I moved to Evanston IL. In addition to working downtown, I took photography classes at the nearby Evanston Art Center, and then eventually also at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I received my MFA in Photography from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1985.
In the early 1990s, I returned to the Evanston Art Center to learn to make pottery. I realized that I have a great love of ceramics and wondered if I might learn that craft well enough to make pieces that I might want to use. Over time, I discovered that others liked these pieces as well.
Our family of four lived in Petoskey MI during the years 1998-2006. For a time, we owned a studio/gallery building where I continued to make pottery and my husband built custom furniture in the Arts & Crafts tradition. However, his primary career in another business became all-consuming, so we closed our joint business and I moved my studio into our home.
In 2010, I decided it was time to learn the digital aspects of photography, as I had a growing desire to once again make pictures. I -- again -- took classes to learn to use Photoshop at the Evanston Art Center in 2010 and 2011. I currently make photographs of the scenes around the areas of northern Michigan which I love so much, in addition to making fantastical photo collages.
I now split my time between my home studio in Petoskey and the studios at the Midwest Clay Guild in the Chicago area. You can visit our website here: http://www.midwestclayguild.org/ Please copy and paste into your browser.
My work can be purchased in Petoskey at the Northern Michigan Artists Market and at Sawbridge Studios in Winnetka IL. I currently sell my pottery there and will soon be adding notecards from some of the images you can see on the Photography page. The gallery can be accessed here: http://www.nmam.us/ Again, please copy and paste into your browser.
