Wisconsin Alumni Association spotlights Art Professor Tom Jones


A story from the Wisconsin Alumni Association spotlights the work of UW–Madison Professor Tom Jones, an instructor of photography in the School of Education’s Art Department and an Art Department alumnus (BFA, 1988).

Tom Jones
Raymond Goodbear, 2019

The story, titled “Worth A Thousand Words: An Inside Look,” delves into Jones’s experience in Madison as a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, and his use of art to explore his heritage and family history. According to the article, “art, not tradition, was the key to (Jones) feeling at home in Madison after an initial culture shock,” when he moved with his family to Madison as a teenager. “He wanted to drop out of high school but leaned into his art classes instead.”

“I can’t remember there not being art as a part of my life,” Jones says.

Jones’s work is currently on view in exhibitions across the country, including at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and Madison’s own Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

According to his artist’s bio, Jones’s artwork is “a commentary on American Indian identity, experience, and perception.” He aims to examine “how American Indian culture is represented through popular culture” and raise questions about these portrayals of identity.

Jones has co-authored a book titled, “People of the Big Voice, Photographs of Ho-Chunk Families by Charles Van Schaick, 1879-1943,” and contributed to a second book, “For a Love of his People: The Photography of Horace Poolaw.”

Read the full Wisconsin Alumni Association story.

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