Biography
Kathryn (Katy) Jones is a sculptor born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. After earning her Bachelor of Arts with a professional emphasis in Art from Doane University, she earned her Master of Fine Arts in sculpture, metal casting, blacksmithing, and fabrication with secondary focuses in ceramics and art history from Fort Hays State University. Katy has exhibited at the state and national level and after a brief hiatus from the art world that brought her back to her home state, she is currently at Midland University as an associate professor of art and design and the Howard Hanson Honors Program Coordinator. In addition, Katy is pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy, visual theory, and aesthetics at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, anticipated to graduate in 2027. She is also an adjunct professor at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design and a Teaching Artist for WhyArts in Omaha, NE. Katy is passionate about creating art experiences within local communities, founding and coordinating the Fremont Gallery Walk Biannually, and serving as the Board President of Gallery 92 West in Fremont, NE. In her free time, Katy enjoys volunteering with local organizations and spending time with her partner, Sam, their son, Rowan, and dogs, Greta and Darci.
Artist Statement
Katy’s sculptural forms are created around the metaphysics and psychology of illusions, perception, experience, truths, and deception, bringing attention to how they affect our sense of self-constructed identities. Her work investigates the effect of our complicit acceptance of others' illusions within interpersonal and group relationships. Katy utilizes anthropomorphic, figurative forms to give life to these narratives. Ultimately, these forms, inspired by personal experience, observations, and the experiences of others, confront this sense of constructed illusion and deception that we are faced with every day while simultaneously expressing the basic animalistic impulses all humans share, which must be navigated with each individual’s personal, subjective sense of truth.
