Celery Jones has been making art since she could hold a pencil. Her parents met at art school, and her mother, De Selby (dselby.com), went on to become a professional oil painter. Jones vividly recalls frustration during childhood art lessons with her mom De, as she guided her to hone her skills using still-lifes and traditional subjects, while all the time Jones was more interested in fantastical creatures and cartoons. She admits those early lessons were a great foundation, but she never lost the playfulness and fantasy of her own artistic leanings. Jones holds fascination at a cellular level. Her enthusiasm is born from viewing the world from as many perspectives as she can, striving for inclusivity and community. “Everyone is welcome at my parties!” Including monthly Paint By Number Karaoke Nights she leads at various venues around Olympia (check website for details).
“Appalachian by birth, and world-traveled by the grace of God.” Jones has a wealth of stories involving her tight-knit family, and odd adventures (including a move to rural Wales when she was a teen so that her father could run an artificial Christmas Tree factory). While Jones has lived in London, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, with several returns to Lexington, Kentucky, she loves Olympia and its creative community. “I feel like I have finally found my happy place! …I mean, it could be sunnier…but still.”
Jones loves to bring people together, and alongside painting, considers event and party planning to be among her most honed crafts. Her current series of work, The Get Down, is an homage to her love of music and dancing. Imagery gathered from photographs she has collected for many decades provide the subjects. “I love watching people letting go on the dancefloor or enjoying music. This series represents the energy I strive to create at my own parties… You don’t have to dance to have a good time at my events. You just have to show up and open up (your heart).” She hopes that joy comes across in her artwork; delighting in pure saturated color, Jones loves unexpected combinations. That’s something she aims for in her paintings, as with her live installations. “I tell my clients: Expressing energy with color or tone is the quickest way to change a room. An opportunity for good composition is everywhere, not just on a canvas.”
Interiors are part of what brought Jones to the Pacific Northwest. In 2017 she was working on HGTV’s “Dream Home” in Gig Harbor as the production’s lead artist when she met her now partner, Olympia native Rich Phillips. When she went home to Los Angeles she and Phillips became daily “video pen pals” via the social platform Marco Polo. A few years later she came to visit him here, and the rest is history.
A creative chameleon, Jones is hard to pigeonhole. Her career began at craft paint manufacturers DecoArt and Plaid Enterprises. From there, she worked as a decorative painter and muralist in Atlanta, which led to film and television art. She was a scenic artist for Turner Studios and then joined the scenic artists’ union (IATSE 487). She went on to art direct for HGTV and other Discovery networks. Jones still creates art for various scripted series, and chances are good you’ve seen one of her paintings in the background of a few international hit shows. “One of my proudest moments was when my set-buyer friend told me that Donald Glover loved the painting I did for his show so much that he took it home and hung it on his wall.” The painting was on black velvet involving a barbarian fighting a gryphon in a lightning storm. As mentioned, Jones is an artist difficult to categorize. “I am fortunate to be able to paint in any style. It’s a great skill for a scripted commission artist, but makes it difficult to describe my work when someone asks ‘So what kind of art do you make?’ Most of my career was built around someone asking whether I could do X, Y, or Z. My reply has always been, ‘I guess. Probably?’ And then I make it work.
WHAT:
Celery Jones Art for Spring Arts Walk
WHEN:
Opening Dance Party April 25, show open April 25 to May 31
WHERE:
The Brotherhood Lounge, 119 Capitol Way N, Olympia, WA 98501
HOW MUCH: Free admission (over 21)
LEARN MORE:
https://www.celeryjones.com/ @celeryjones, thebrotherhoodlounge.com