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Profile

Julie Renée Jones was born in 1984 the suburbs of Dayton. There she first learned to turn the cookie-cutter landscape of her childhood escapades into fantastic new worlds through imagination. In 2001, she learned to do this with a camera and has been doing it ever since, challenging perceptions of people, place and memory.

She holds a BFA in Photography from the University of Dayton and received her MFA in Photography from Columbia College, Chicago, in 2012. Before returning to the University of Dayton in her role as lecturer, Jones was a visiting instructor at many local Dayton institutions, including K12 Gallery/TEJAS Studio. Jones’ work revolves primarily around photography, with a deep-rooted interest in handmade bookmaking and documentary film and informed by art history concepts. She has exhibited across the U.S., Canada, and Europe with publications of her work appearing in The British Journal of Photography, Real Simple Magazine, Fraction Magazine and Italy’s C 41 Magazine, among others. A selection of exhibitions include Julie Renée Jones: UMBRA at Wittenberg University, 80x80 at The Mint Museum, Space Jamz with the Humble Arts Foundation and, most recently, Reciprocity at Dutoit Gallery in Dayton. In 2015, Jones was awarded the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for her series UMBRA.

Faculty perspective

"I am simultaneously fascinated by the mundane and the magical as it unfolds in the everyday. Floating somewhere between a dream and memory, my work seeks to expand upon experiences of growing up in the suburban Midwest and familial mythos, as it relates to photographic record and the difference between vernacular depiction and emotional undertone. I am concerned with the effects that photography has upon the individual and community as a psychological tool for defining reality and orchestrating memory.

Although my practice is heavily informed by traditional ideas and methods of documentary and portraiture photography I consistently work to break down the visual and conceptual expectations of both through the use of surrealism and magic realism. I draw inspiration from not only my own experiences but also cultural depictions of domestic life, such as the wave of suburban/small town horror films in the 1980s. In addition, I am engaged with a viewpoint that highlights the physical and psychological depictions of women in film, literature and art history. In doing so, I am able to expand my work beyond the individual experience into a broader communal reflection of visual representation, memory, and the strangeness of the ordinary.

In the classroom I strive to bring these same considerations to light by encouraging students to look towards their intimate lives while stressing the importance of image construction that speaks to a broader audience. I challenge students to make connections, of their own artwork and the medium as a whole, outside of the expected artistic narrative to its cultural, scientific, social, etc. uses. I stress the importance of traditional and formal techniques of photography while emphasizing a multidisciplinary and contemporary interpretation of a medium that is ever evolving and profound in our day-to-day cultural and social lives."

Professional activities

• Society for Photographic Education (SPE, National and Midwest Chapters)
• The ADP Workshop
• K12 Gallery/TEJAS Teen & Adult Joint Studio

Research interests

• Photography
• Bookmaking
• Art History
• Film
• Magic Realism, Surrealism
• Portraiture
• The American Midwest
• Women’s Studies
• Color Theory
• Studies of interest: Optics, Parapsychology, Memory, Astronomy

Selected exhibitions, presentations and publications

ONE AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

Reciprocity, Dutoit Gallery, Dayton, Ohio. 2016.

Julie Renée Jones: UMBRA, Ann Koch Gallery, Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio., 2016.

City Space + UMBRA, Pictura Gallery, Bloomington, Ind., 2013.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

80x80, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, N.C., 2016.

Space Jamz, Humble Arts Foundation, New York City, N.Y., 2016. (online)

FlakPhoto, Midwest Print Show, Diane Endres Ballway-Gallery, Madison, Wisc., 2015.

Variations on Likeness, Dayton Visual Arts Center, Dayton, Ohio, 2014.

Making It Home, Unsmoke Systems Artspace, Braddock, Pa. 2013.

Not Just Another Pretty Face, Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago, 2013.

FotoFilmic International Photography Exhibition, Positive Negative Gallery, Vancouver, B.C., 2013.

Archetype Drift, Johalla Projects, Chicago, 2013.

16th International Opening, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, 2013.

Albert P. Weisman Award Exhibition, the arcade, Chicago, 2012.

Ground Floor, Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago, 2012.

Margate Photo Festival 3, The Pie Factory, Margate, Kent, U.K., 2012.

Alternative Realities, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, Vt., 2012.

3rd Annual Photography Competition & Exhibition, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia,  2012.

Voyeurism & Intimacy: The Public/Private Divide in Photography, RayKo Photo Center, San Francisco, 2012.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

“Pair,” C 41 Magazine, Issue 2, Milan, Italy. 2016.

Fraction Magazine, Issue 73. April 2015. (view online)

Aint-Bad Magazine. January 2015. (view online)

“Real Simple Features…” Real Simple Magazine, September. 2013.

“UMBRA: Without Light There Can Be No Shadow,” Indiana Public Media, Arts & Music. August 2013. (view online)

“Ground Floor Graduates,” Chicago Tribune, A&E. September 2012. (view online)

“Ground Floor: A Biennial Exhibition of New Art From Chicago,” Hyde Park Arts Center with introduction by Dawoud Bey. 2012.

“Julie Renée Jones: Strangely familiar,” British Journal of Photography. September 2013, Volume 159, Issue No 7804.

PRESENTATIONS

Oregon State University. 2016.

Wittenberg University, Springfield. Ohio, 2016.

ADP Workshop, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio. 2014.

ADP Workshop, Unsmoke Systems Artspace, Braddock, Pa., 2013.

Regional Society For Photography Education Conference, Midwest, Cincinnati, 2012.