Julia Griffiths Jones

Julia Griffiths Jones lives and works from her home in Llanybri, Carmarthenshire. She has been developing her distinctive folk-art-inspired wire and textile pieces since the  1970’s after graduating with her MA from the Royal College of art in London. We visited her at her studio and asked a few questions about her practice.

Mae Julia Griffiths Jones yn byw ac yn gweithio o’i chartref yn Llan-y-bri, Sir Gaerfyrddin. Mae hi wedi bod yn datblygu ei darnau gwifrau a thecstilau nodweddiadol sydd wedi eu hysbrydoli gan gelf gwerin ers yr 1970au ar ôl graddio gyda gradd MA o Goleg Celf Brenhinol Llundain. Aethom i ymweld â hi yn ei stiwdio a gofyn ychydig o gwestiynau iddi ynghylch ei gwaith.

OM: Your original degrees were in ‘printed textiles’ both at Winchester School of Art and The Royal College of Art. What led you from here to the use of wire that is now so distinctive in your work?

JGJ: About seven years after leaving the RCA, I was not designing textiles, but travelling and drawing in Eastern Europe. I felt I had to do something with my drawings so I began making wire versions of them, and got very excited to see my drawings lift off the page. I have drawn so much embroidery and cloth, which is also a line to me, that I had plenty of refences to translate into wire.

 OM: There is a strong Eastern European folk art influence in your work, what drew you to these forms and images?

JGJ: At the RCA I was encouraged to apply for a travel bursary. Not knowing where to go I went to the library and found a magazine article about a woman living in a village called Strasnice in Central Czechoslovakia (as it then was). She had painted her house with images of birds and flowers, and inside were all her embroidered textiles, colourful and very decorative. I decided to go there and find her, but on the way I travelled through Poland and saw all the ethnographic collections I could find, and was totally blown away by Folk Art.

OM: Your work has been influenced by the domestic work of women; can you tell us more about the significance of that subject matter for you?

JGJ: On these trips I mentioned earlier I met a lot of women who were embroiderers, and they explained their work to me. They were taught in stages, first a handkerchief, then a pillow case, then a tablecloth, eventually making their wedding dresses after creating their dowries earlier on in their lives. What struck me was that their embroideries never left their houses, it was not about money, but about fabric being embroidered with symbols and motifs to protect the wearer,and to accompany them through life.

OM: Your work must require a lot of forethought and planning, how do you start the process?

JGJ: I draw a lot and then if it is a big piece I enlarge the drawing on paper to the size I require.Then I start forming the wire over the drawing trying to make an accurate representation of the line underneath.

OM: You had a solo show here at Oriel Myrddin Gallery in 2005, what developments have happened in your work since that exhibition?

JGJ: Since then I have worked on a project with The National Wool Museum, in Drefach Felindre, Carmarthenshire.They have installed five pieces in the Museum permanently, and I designed products for their shop. I combined wire with textiles in some of the pieces.

OM: You live and work in Carmarthenshire; do you feel your location affects your work?

JGJ: Not always directly, but the Wool Museum project certainly did.

OM: Who (or what) has been an influence on you artistically? What other artists or makers do you particularly admire?

JGJ: Growing up in Aberaeron in Cardiganshire was a big influence on me as there were many artists living there, John and Mary Jones, George and Kate Chapman, Margaret Holgate, to name a few.

I admire greatly Alexander Calder, Hans Stofer and embroiderer Tilleke Schwarz.

OM: What would you like to do in the future? Do you have anything exciting on the horizon?

JGJ: I am currently I am working on a space of suspended wire objects; very folk influenced. The work will be shown in Slovakia and then come to Wales. I hope to be able to install the work into vernacular historic buildings as well as showing it at Ruthin Craft Centre.

See more images from Julia’s studio