Heather Jones is an artist, educator, writer, and curator who was born in Dayton, Ohio. She received her BA and MA (ABT) in Art History from the University of Cincinnati. Jones’ first book, Quilt Local: Finding Inspiration in the Everyday was published in 2015 by STC Craft, an imprint of Abrams, New York. She was selected as an artist-in-residence for Kehinde Wiley’s inaugural class at Black Rock Senegal in Dakar in 2019, and completed a 10-month residency at Silver Art Projects in New York City in 2023. Jones recently participated in an intensive residency program at Anderson Ranch, Colorado with acclaimed contemporary artist Mickalene Thomas and renowned curator Jasmine Wahi.

Her work has been exhibited widely at national and international venues, most recently at the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio; the Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky; the Dakar Biennale, Dakar, Senegal; and at the Contemporary Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, paired with the work of Odili Donald Odita and Jeffrey Gibson. Additionally, her work is in the permanent collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio; KMAC Contemporary Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky; the Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky; Stiftung Konzeptuelle Kunst, Soest, Germany; the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago, Illinois; Fidelity Investments, Boston, Massachusetts; Churchill Asset Management, the Seagram Building, New York, New York; the Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, Ohio; the Sara and Michelle Vance Waddell Collection, Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as many other private collections throughout the United States and abroad.

Jones is excited and honored to join the team at The Contemporary Dayton as Curator and Director of Programs and Engagement, and she knows firsthand the impact that exposure to art can have on both an individual as well as a community. She draws on over twenty years of experience both as a professional working artist and in a variety of roles in the art, education, and museum fields. Jones is also the co-founder and co-director of Divisible, a contemporary art project space at the Front Street Studio complex, founded in 2014 with her husband Jeffrey Cortland Jones. She maintains a robust studio practice and will bring a supportive and collaborative spirit with a commitment to equity, access, inclusion, and engagement between The Contemporary Dayton, the greater Dayton community, and beyond.

Photo Credit: Briana Snyder