Inspiration comes in many forms. It can be from the nature that surrounds us, a person who acts as our Muse, the food we eat, and even the life that we lead. Artists are very aware of the things that make them want to unleash their creative edge and transform the energy into the visual image. For some artists, art is a form of expressing the beauty in their lives. And for other artists, painting is a platform to express their personal values and create images that reflect what isn’t always so beautiful in our world.
Lisa is a passionate painter who lives and works in Edmonton, Alberta. At this time, much of her work reflects the old fashion circus world during the days of when there was no animal rights movement. Bears being forced to do tricks, monkeys forced to look, dress and act as humans. Interestingly, the circus isn’t just a random platform for Lisa’s artwork, but rather a part of her life.
“My dad is a circus clown.” explains Lisa. “He went to the Dell'arte school in California. So, he is a trained clown. He has a theatre company in Calgary called The Green Fools and they do circus camps and he’s always inspired me to sort of purse this circus theme. He performed with Cirque du Soleil and was a street performer as well.” She continues to say, “I was adopted as a kid, but I met my biological father when I was sixteen, kinda by fluke. So it is my biological Dad who is involved in the circus. From sixteen onward, he taught me how to stilt walk, unicycle, and through the stilt walking, I got to do some gigs with Cirque du Soleil. I got to do some openings. It was super fun! And he does so much awesome work with underprivileged youth and immigrant families. He does camps that the government funds and he teaches people how to do all these things that you don’t need to know how to speak English to do. So he’s been a huge inspiration to me because what he does really makes a positive impact on his community in Calgary. So he definitely finds his way into my work. He’s helped shaped who I am. I’m 27 now, so I’ve known him for 11 years, and he’s kinda awesome so I try to take a little bit of his clowning awesome energy and put it into my work.”
In many of Lisa’s pictures, there is a white face clown. He seems to have an innocent distressed expression as he is morphed into abstract perspectives. In one picture called White Face Moon, his head is on a spider monkey’s body that was being used for scientific testing. You can see the arm of the spider monkey was trying to pull on his chain to get away from the scientists. It is a dark piece but reflects well that we will destroy innocence if that means a favorable end for mankind.
Lisa explains, “This particular piece, this face here is based on the first white-faced clown; this was late nineteenth century 1870’s I think it was. He was the first person to do an all white face clown and so he entertained people, but because there was lead in the face paint, it slowly made him insane. So what use to be his living and what was bringing him joy eventually put him into a mental depression.”
She says,”I found that I was starting to paint some chimps and out of all the animals I was painting, whether it was bears, horses or hippos, the monkeys facial expression just captivated me so much. They are so expressive and their eyes say so much, and they have been so historically mistreated and privately owned, and dressed up. Monkeys for me have become this metaphor, for just all the things that frustrate me about humanity, and how entitled human beings are to have control over all the living things on earth. If I’m going through something really rough then my paintings tend to reflect what I am going through, but I use these monkeys more like my metaphor. So the facial reflection, that probably reflects what’s going on in my life at the time when I was painting it.”
Lisa’s dedication to self-expression and her values of compassion and responsibility do not stay fastened to her personal artwork on canvas. Lisa is a tattoo enthusiast who displays a variety of wonderful tattoos. On her thigh, she has a very large tattoo of a monkey riding a plush horse. When asked to explain why she chose this tattoo she explains, “So this is my cowboy monkey and he is riding a plush horse, and he has a little gun. Although he looks kinda happy, it's the same idea, you know, he’s been dressed up by some human to be a cowboy. I don’t like guns at all, but he’s been given a little toy gun, and it's kind of about the control that human beings feel the need to exert onto all other living things. The meaning behind it is a little more depressing, but I like to bring colour and a little bit of joy into these things that bother me. Bringing awareness to something that bothers me. Animals in human clothes have become my overarching metaphor for my misanthropy and general distaste for the things people do. (laughs)”
Lisa has a peacock tattoo on her left arm. She was inspired by the Greek Mythology story of Zeus trying to hide the princess Io from Hera. Hera had a peacock with a thousand eyes watching over IO. Lisa decided years ago to have the peacock as a symbol of always having someone looking over her. Also, her mother loves birds, so she saw the connection with her mother. Which actually makes perfect sense because Hera was the wife and mother image in mythology. 
On her right arm, Lisa has a beautiful scene of a sailing ship, the HMS Endeavour to be exact. There is also a plaque that says Aotearoa which means New Zealand in Maori. Although Lisa lives and works in Edmonton, she spent the better part of her childhood living in New Zealand. Her family immigrated there when she was small and therefore it became her second home. She considers this tattoo to be her homage to her favorite place.
At this time, Lisa works in retail as she strives to move forward as a full-time artist. She is working towards getting into grad school to get her MFA. Every free moment Lisa has she will be in her studio painting. She says, “I just want to be a painter. It’s what I want to do. Just want to paint all day, every day. (laughs)”.
To see more of Lisa Jones's work you can visit her on website LISA JONES or at her Instagram account JONESIEST and FaceBook Page ART BY LISA JONES. Lisa also has some of her work on display for the next three months at the Cafe Mosaics located at 10844 82 Ave. Nw. Edmonton, AB.
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