Meet Ella Jones
Ella Jones is an artist from North Wales. She creates installations, sculptures, and costumes centred on kinesthetic learning and creating tangible interactions between the audience and artwork. Recent projects include the 'The rules of art?' at the National Museum Cardiff (2023), a commission for the Useful art space in TY PAWB, Wrexham (2022), and Welcome Collection's Mitochondrial Research Artist in Residence (2020-2021) Newcastle University.
Ella is interested in the haptic, the ability to feel what the eyes can't see. It is to feel the weight of an object, its material, the texture of its unfamiliar surface, and its temperature. Growing up in North Wales, the white wall space of a gallery has always been aliening to Ella. However, whilst growing up surrounded by the countryside and nature, touching different surfaces, textures, and patterns and experiencing them through many senses has given her pure joy in exploring materiality.
In an era where our interactions have become increasingly digital and devoid of physical sensation, "Furple" emerges as a mesmerizing exploration of touch. Each touch sends ripples cascading through the fabric, creating a dynamic visual spectacle. This latch hook furry trousers and headpiece serve as a poignant commentary on the effects of technology and screens on our tactile experiences. In an age dominated by flat screens and virtual connections, we find ourselves longing for the sensuality of fabrics—these pieces we made to exaggerate the tactility of everyday clothing. People touch fewer fabrics now, and this piece lets audiences feel and caress an overly textured outfit exhibiting a textile latch hooking technique used in mining communities in Wales and Britain since the nineteenth century.
IKT delegates will get an opportunity to experience Ella’s work firsthand, when visiting HAUS artist studios in Llandudno during IKT Congress 2023.
Photos by Katie O'Neill.