From fashion to painting, local artist uses bodies as her canvas

STARKVILLE — When Rosemary Jones sits down at her sewing machine, even she doesn’t always know what is going to happen next.

Working without a pattern or a sketch, she tears apart old garments and uses them to create something new, following the colors, patterns and impulses of her artistic eye.

“It’s a very sensuous experience,” Jones said. “Seeing the colors together and feeling them in my hands. And I love seeing the progression of something (from start to finish).”

While Jones is originally from Starkville, and has been working in different creative mediums since she was a child, her passion for creating garments and arranging fashion shows and events has bloomed over the past five years, leading her to become the latest artist in residence at the MacGown Art Retreat and Studio.

MARS, owned by local artist and entomologist Joe MacGown, hosts one of the only private paid artist-in-residency programs in the state. It is funded by stipends from the Del Rendon Foundation, a local charity that raises funds in support of local and regional art and music activities. Artists are paid to stay in a cabin on the property for weeks at a time to focus on their artwork and to connect with local art enthusiasts.

“I look for individuals like Rosemary,” MacGown said. “I’m looking for people that are in the community doing things on their own. Like, she’s organized numerous events. She used to go to our events and others, and now she’s organizing her own (fashion shows).”

Jones’ fascination with fabrics took off while she was in high school. At the time, she would thrift clothing from local stores, embellish them with paint or patches or other additions, and then resell them online. By 2019, she had created her own fashion brand, Pink Plaid, often working with these second-hand pieces and fabrics.

With her interest growing, Jones started a fashion club at Starkville High School, where students could donate and pool pieces to style. She put together two fashion shows with the club, though when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she wasn’t able to arrange events. Still, the pandemic offered Jones an unexpected opportunity to learn a new skill – sewing.

“Sewing teaches you a lot about patience. A lot,” Jones said. “But during (the pandemic), that ample time of doing a whole lot of nothing, I was like well, I might as well do this.”

While sewing helped to open up the world of fashion even further for Jones, she still kept her emphasis on reusing fabrics and second-hand garments. With each piece, Jones said, she tries to avoid textile waste, following a “make do with what you have” mentality.

“How can I make do with this and make it beautiful?” Jones said.

After graduating from high school, Jones took on an internship with another artist called Sumo with the brand “This is Intentional,” a fellow fashion designer and painter, who also taught her the ins and outs of the business side of art.

“I can still say confidently to this day that that taught me much more than I feel like college could have at the time, as far as resources and networking and the ins and outs of how an actual artist sustains themselves day to day,” Jones said.

While day-to-day, Jones works for a cleaning company and at Mississippi State University to help pay the bills, she focuses on her clothing designs, creating pieces for art markets and arranging fashion shows with the rest of her time. She has now held a dozen fashion shows since she started her brand, including in other cities across the South.

But with starting the MacGown residency this past Monday, she said, she gets the opportunity to have a full two weeks to focus on fashion, along with some of her other artistic pursuits.

One of those pursuits – textile art – applies her sewing skills to pieces that can be hung up or displayed anywhere, which gives Jones a lot more freedom when it comes to shapes.

“Yes, I’m making art, but realistically, (clothes have) to fit off of a 3D canvas that’s a body, that’s different every time,” Jones said. “That’s why I’ve been leaning into fiber arts, because my vision isn’t compromised.”

Jones also intends to spend part of the residency working on painting, she said, which she approaches with the same creative freedom as her fabrics. Her style tends to lean more abstract, she said, sometimes on canvases and sometimes on people’s bodies.

Recently, Jones said, she was invited to perform a live body painting for a class at Mississippi State University. She plans to hold another performance before the end of her residency.

To celebrate Jones’ presence at MARS, the studio will host a meet and greet reception from 2-5 p.m. Sunday. Her textile work will also be displayed at the “FIBERS” exhibit at the Del Rendon Foundation’s headquarters, 100 GT Thames Drive, from 6-9 p.m. Nov. 14. Finally, her live body painting exhibition will be at MARS from 2-5 p.m. Nov. 17.

For more information on Jones’ receptions or to schedule a visit with Jones during her residency, email [email protected] or go to joemacgown.com/.