Louise Jones

In 2019, Detroit-based artist Louise Jones brought a vibrant array of floral imagery to the walls of the New Britain Museum of American Art’s LeWitt Family Staircase. Known for her large-scale botanical paintings, Jones creates site-specific murals whose compositions are often inspired by native plants and flowers and informed by a collaboration with regional horticulturists. Her wall paintings, bursting with vitality and saturated color, can be found on public buildings around the world.

Jones’s work was a part of our landmark exhibition The Beyond: Georgia O’Keeffe and Contemporary Art. Like O’Keeffe, Jones depicts flowers at a massive scale as a means to explore pure shape, color, and abstract qualities beyond a particular species. Jones’s approach to painting flowers and plant matter stems from her interest in exploring the femininity she finds in the floral form, which she often layers with personal meaning and symbolism. Her LeWitt Family Staircase mural was inspired by O’Keeffe’s legacy as well as the plant and flower species found on the NBMAA’s grounds and throughout the region.

This site-specific work is made possible through the generous support of the Charles F. Smith Fund and the Howard Fromson Endowment for Emerging Artists.

Check out a complete time-lapse in the creation of this work here.