​A summer affair with Dan Jones

Early in my interview with artist Dan Jones, I commented: “It must be nice to make a living doing what you love.” Dan retorted, “Yeah…. Everyone says that. But it is still work.” He explained: “If I was truly doing what I love, I would be on the road with a blues band. But I can’t carry a tune. I can play the harmonica and that’s it.”

If you’ve followed Dan’s career, being a working artist suits him. Perhaps the harmonica should remain a hobby. In order to create art, Dan overcame early lack of encouragement and support, and seven years ago, a severe aneurysm.

When he finally decided to pursue art, he was older than the average budding artist. He delayed his art education: “I had always liked art, but my dad owned a construction company, and, for him, art was something ‘that sissies did.’” And it was something Dan was told “you could not make a living at.”

Thus, Dan, who married right after high school, with a family to support, worked at his father’s construction company. No time for art. Dan explains, “My whole life is about doing stuff that other people said I couldn’t do -- Starting with my dad and then teachers.”

He also does things his own way, from way back: “In high school I had long hair. But I was also really athletic. They asked me to be on the basketball team. They said, go get a haircut and you are on the team. I asked, ‘what if I don’t get a haircut?’ They said, ‘Well, you can’t play.’ So I said, ‘Then, I guess I won’t play.’”

Dan tells a story of being picked up from a rehab facility in Minneapolis by his cousin, who took him to the Walker Art Center. At 29, it was the first time Dan had been in an art museum: “It was the Picasso retrospective. It was a huge show. And I was completely blown away – by the scale of the work, by the subject matter, by all the different styles that Picasso worked in. I saw the gorilla with the Volkswagen head and the bicycle seat with handlebars made into a bull’s head. It was a transformative experience.” This encounter led to Dan enrolling at NDSU, first in architecture, because art “didn’t seem like a viable option. I was a journeyman carpenter so I thought architecture would be a good fit.”

When Dan finally switched to pursuing an art degree at NDSU, he describes the art department as “in an attic” and “not taken very seriously by the university.” But the three art professors were serious, and greatly influenced him. In that first year, Dan says, “I took a drawing class, and I went completely crazy –I loved it.” The journey began.

I spoke with Dan about his artistic journey and what you can expect at his upcoming show at Ecce Gallery. You can purchase art by Dan through Ecce Art Gallery or contacting him directly: “I am trying hard to open up a commercial FB page. I’m trying to come into the 21st century.”

High Plains Reader: Tell us about your art education at NDSU and the University of Minnesota.

Dan Jones: I was ten years older than the other students; I had already gotten all of the party stuff done and I was serious. After some time at NDSU, I ended up going to the University of Minnesota for a year. At that time, the University of Minnesota was very “New York Abstract Expressionist.” It was interesting, but I still wanted to follow the more traditional way of learning. So I went there for a year then returned to NDSU to get back to the basics.

Back at NDSU, I just wanted to paint. They fixed me up a corner of my own in the art department and I just focused on the work. I did a lot of old masters studies – Rembrandt, Manet. I kind of taught myself how to paint. I did not touch a brush until I was almost thirty. It came to me quickly, and I was lucky enough to be fairly good at it.

HPR: You left the Fargo area for a while.

DJ: Julia, my current wife, and I hit the road, to Oregon, then Arizona, and eventually Minneapolis. In Minneapolis, I had a big commercial framing business. Julia worked for a dealer who did a lot of secondary market stuff, working with clients around the world, including Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

Across the street from my frame shop there was a golf course with a driving range, so that’s what I did after work every day -- I’d hit a bucket of balls. I think that I really started noticing the landscape after I started golfing. When I got married, my wife got me a set of clubs instead of a wedding ring. I asked her to give me something I could use. I’ve even done a couple of fun paintings of golf courses.

After a couple of years, the art market fell flat. For my framing business, I ended up with one primary client who was the bulk of my business and he quit paying. After a couple of years in court, we came back to Fargo to regroup.

HPR: What happened when you moved back to Fargo?

DJ: In 1992, I opened up a gallery, and another. But back then most people thought of art as “duck prints.” When I started doing landscapes, people asked me…why don’t you paint ducks, or pheasants, or deer? I said, they are in there, you just can’t see them, just like real life. That’s why they call it hunting,because they are hiding from you.

Trying to have a gallery then was challenging. The flood then came in 1997 and nobody was thinking about art. We ended up closing the gallery. I took work with the public schools, but I had a little studio and kept working on my art. I eventually got approached by Terry Jelsing, Interim Director of the Plains Art Museum. He invited me to be one of five artists at the inaugural show. People saw my work and I started getting commissions. I left the public schools, and by then Julia was the director of Dakota Montessori School in town, which she still is. I built another studio out of a fallen down garage and started getting more commissions, and I have never looked back. I have been really lucky.

HPR: You had a brain aneurysm and have come back from that to continue to create art.

Dan Jones: I had a ruptured brain aneurysm seven years ago. Just the fact that I am even here is odds-defying, let alone the fact I am able to work. One of the surgeons told me only 50 percent of people who have this survive. And of those, only 50 percent can continue with their profession. I had to teach myself how to create art all over again.

For years, in late summer/early fall six of us regional artists have an artist’s retreat at somebody’s cabin or house, where we drink wine, eat great food, and make and critique our art. They all came out to Mandan when I was in a brain rehab facility and supported me. We painted for a couple of days. They really pushed me and got me back doing it again.

HPR: What are some influences?

Dan Jones: The whole Red River basin is a gold mine for subject matter. When you paint flatness, you are always trying to deal with it in different ways -- moving the horizon line, putting it up high, putting it down low.

My work also reflects the artists that I admire and follow. A few years back, I got hooked on the Tonalism movement. Tonalists have a softness to their work. I also love art history. I think I am probably, more than a lot of artists, still looking back more than forward for inspiration.

HPR: Family seems important to you.

Dan Jones: I had two kids when I was really young, as I got married right out of high school. We divorced, but I ended up with a couple of awesome daughters from that marriage. Now, we’re a blended family and it’s fun. When my current wife, Julia, came along, the girls were 6 and 8, and Julia and her family were very much “arms around.” They were and are very close with Julia.

I have four kids – three girls and one boy, and seven grandkids. My oldest grandson is 19 and wants to learn all about painting. Painting and fly fishing are his passions. My son is only five or six years older than the oldest grandson, and they are really tight. All the grandkids text and talk and whatever kids do these days.”

HPR: What’s next?

Dan Jones: I have painted a lot of landscapes. But, this is likely to be my last landscape show in a while. I am looking at exploring some other ideas and see where that takes me.

One new project comes from a 100-year-old box of family photos I acquired following a relative’s death. I have no idea who the people are. I’m looking at the style of Elmer Bischoff and David Park, and taking these photos, painting them and abstracting them. My wife calls these works ‘the melty faces.’

I also would like to make larger paintings – I don’t have the space to work large. But I like it – I’m a big guy and it’s really comfortable for me to work large.

IF YOU GO

Dan Jones: Summer Affair -- Recent Drawings; Paintings

Ecce Gallery, 216 Broadway N., Fargo

Opening: August 11, 5 – 7pm

August 11– September 7