About Fred Jones

Education

Fred Jones earned a National Diploma in Design in 1961 from Cardiff College of Art in Wales, G.B. plus an Art Teachers Diploma from the University of Wales in 1962. In 1965, he earned a Master of Education degree from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1970-1971 he attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, completing a Master of Fine Art degree, specializing in the print technique of silkscreen. In 1979, while on sabbatical leave, he attended Atelier 17 in Paris and the Print Workshop in London. In 1987, he returned to the University of Wisconsin as an Honorary Fellow to study Computer Mediated Art.

Teaching

He joined the Western Illinois University art faculty in 1968 as an instructor in Art Education, Design, and Drawing after teaching for two years at Chester College of Art in England. In 1969, he was appointed Gallery Director and continued in this position for two years. Since then Jones has developed the Silkscreen and Computer Generated Art programs. Jones is the recipient of five Faculty Excellence Awards and four Summer Stipend Research Awards. He was the W.I.U. Faculty Lecturer of the Year in 1995, and was awarded the rank of Distinguished Lecturer in 1999. In 2000 he was awarded the Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Artist Award and was the Western Illinois University representative in the national competition. He retired in 2000.

Art Exhibits

Since coming to Illinois in 1968, Jones has won numerous awards in national and regional competitive exhibitions and has been the recipient of six commissions from the Illinois Percentage for Art program for his landscape works for public buildings. He has works in various public and private collections in the U.S. and the U.K.

Collaborative Fine Art Portfolios

Another significant part of his artistic production is the Western Illinois Folio Press which he founded in 1980. He has produced a number of interdisciplinary portfolios including the Western Illinois Portfolio, the Welsh American Portfolio, the Village Memories Portfolio, and the Illinois Portfolio using the screen printing technique. These rare documents include works by major artists and poets from both sides of the Atlantic. Two of these works are in the rare documents collection of the British Library. A compendium exhibition of these works is currently touring Illinois and is also available at the following web site address: http://www.wiu.edu/foliopress