Coco Jones is our Guest Artist for this year’s Arts on the Avenue Festival, which takes place on August 28th along Ladysmith’s well-loved First Avenue. For the past 32 years, Coco has been creating art out of her home on Vancouver Island, making her a well-known artist in the region.
When asked to describe herself as an artist, Coco Jones tells us that all of her personal file folders are “open all the time”, which results in a “chaotic environment at times”. Coco notes that the chaos of her studio often allows her to work on a variety of projects at the same time, which is convenient because acrylic paint (her medium of choice) also allows for spontaneity and multitasking. Coco also describes herself as the type of artist that relies heavily on her own intuition to inform her practice. More formally, Coco also describes her art style as being a type of abstract expressionism. She is self-taught, drawn to nature, and understanding of the fact that the process of creating art sometimes requires a certain amount of flexibility and perseverance.
When it comes to actually getting paint down on the canvas, Coco tells us that ideas tend to come to her quite fluidly, and she is quick to transform these ideas into something visual. Once Coco is “in the zone”, her art-making becomes its own fluid movement and oftentimes individual pieces begin to flow into one another and inspire the next. Another element of Coco’s art practice involves her ability to “see images around people” when they describe things to her. She also places emphasis on the importance of dreams, meditation, and ceremony
in her creative process and how they influence her work.
As an artist, Coco states that it is her commitment to “bring joy and peace and harmony and laughter” to everyone who inhabits the planet we all call home. As Coco makes note of, the world has been a tumultuous place over the past few years, but her commitment remains the same, regardless of what’s going on outside of her studio. Through her work, Coco hopes to remind people that love, community, and art are at the center of all things, and their importance during times like these has heightened exponentially.
"I'm deeply committed to the joys of life and bringing that to the planet through colour, through language, through symbols" (Coco Jones, 2022).
Coco Jones and a selection of her incredible artwork will be present at this year's annual Arts on the Avenue Festival, which takes place on August 28th.
Arts on the Avenue: https://www.artsontheavenue.ca/
Coco's website: http://www.cocojonesstudio.ca/
Watch an Interview with Coco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twaqOkvqcSo
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