"My sculptural practice explores balance—between softness and strength, containment and release, tradition and transformation. Through wall-mounted, sculptural forms that oscillate between ornament and design, I create objects that function less as static sculptures and more as quiet presences, inviting slow looking and spiritual awareness.
I am drawn to layered processes and materials as a reflection of the lived and shared human experience. The accumulation of folds, fibers, grooves, and surface markings mirrors the layers of nature, memory, and emotion. These layers hold both perfection and imperfection—growth shaped by pressure, time, and vulnerability. My work embraces asymmetry and irregularity, allowing forms to feel natural rather than idealized.
Light and shadows play a central role in the work. Repetition, rhythm, and texture create meditative surfaces where shadows settle into creases and lines, activating the sculpture as the viewer moves around it. These subtle shifts echo inner states—breath, calm, tension, and release—and suggest a quiet dialogue between interior and exterior worlds.
The orb recurs throughout my practice as a symbol of wholeness and the self portrait: a contained form that is physically shaped by external forces, yet still wholesome and somehow spiritually whole. In some works, the orb remains abstract and architectural. In others, it becomes more literal and human, resolving into portrait forms that reference the body and face more directly. These portraits are extensions of the orb rather than departures from it—the same language of containment translated into individualized, bodily forms. Whether abstract or figurative, each piece operates as a vessel that holds experience, memory, and resilience. As many of the orbs soften, unfurl, or release downward through fiber and fringe, this downward movement speaks to gravity, rootedness, yet a powerful spiritual connection.
My process is intentionally labor-intensive, guided by touch and repetition. Manipulating materials becomes a form of meditation and self-inquiry, where making is inseparable from meaning. Influenced by natural forms—botanical growth, geological strata, and cyclical patterns—I aim to create sculptures that feel alive, intimate, and spiritually resonant.
Ultimately, my work is about presence. Rather than delivering a fixed narrative, each piece offers a space for reflection—where viewers can sense their own layers, pauses, and transformations reflected back to them."
BIOgraphy Sarah Hannah Jones is a self-taught (God-taught) artist based in Virginia, working in both sculpture and painting. From an early age, she felt an intuitive connection to the arts and consistently sought ways to cultivate her creative instincts. Her father, Jerome Jones, a talented painter, served as her earliest and most influential artistic reference.
Jones began her professional career in the culinary field as a pastry chef and earned a degree in business, experiences that continue to inform her artistic practice. Drawing from her culinary training, she develops unconventional methods and pushes boundaries, approaching art-making with a tactile, process-driven sensibility. She is particularly drawn to the exploration and manipulation of materials, allowing texture to play a central role in her work.
Her art has been exhibited throughout the east coast from New York, to Atlanta, to Miami, including Miami Art Week, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and galleries in Manhattan. Her work has also been featured in Design Milk, and she is a recipient of the National Black Arts Festival Art Project Fund Grant (Atlanta, GA). Influenced by residencies in Cape Town, South Africa, and Skopelos, Greece, her forms echo geological strata, botanical growth, and cyclical patterns, inviting reflection and spiritual awareness.Jones has completed numerous public commissions and sculptural mural installations nationally (New York, Virginia, Alabama) and internationally (Jamaica & Haiti), centering themes of nourishment, identity, and collective resilience. She is also co-founder of Jones Gardens (www.jonesgarden.org), where she plays a key role in designing immersive garden oases that blend art, ecology, and community engagement.
Influenced by world travel and the rhythms of nature, Jones weaves cultural and environmental references into her practice, creating works that feel both grounded and introspective. She is currently a full-time artist who also facilitates instructional sessions in painting and sculpture across various platforms. In addition to her studio practice, Jones is committed to using her craft in service of positive change, regularly donating her work to organizations that support meaningful social impact. As an educator and facilitator, she views public art as a powerful tool for storytelling and spiritual connection.
AWARDS/GRANTS
NATIONAL BLACK ARTS FESTIVAL- ART PROJECT FUND COHORT GRANT RECIPIENT - ATLANTA, GA USA 2022 Best In Show for "Braid my hair" All women artist competition- Contemporary Art Gallery Online USA 2021
RESIDENCIES
STAUNTON AUGUSTA ART CENTER MINI RESIDENCY, STAUNTON, VA USA | AUGUST 14-SEPT. 14, 2024 JAN ERNST STUDIO ARTIST IN RESIDENCE/INTERNSHIP, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA | JUNE 1-JULY 11, 2024 SKOPELOS ARTS FOUNDATION ARTIST IN RESIDENCE,SKOPELOS TOWN, SKOPELOS, GREECE | AUG 23 -SEPT 22, 2021
ARTIST TALKS
‘ART THAT TRANSFORMS COMMUNITIES’ | MARY BALDWIN UNIVERSITY | STAUNTON, VA | SEPTEMBER 23, 2025 ‘SOLID ROCK’ | MARY BALDWIN UNIVERSITY | STAUNTON, VA USA | NOVEMBER 1, 2024 ‘CAPE TOWN RESIDENCY’ | SANAA DESIGN STUDIOS | STAUNTON, VA USA | AUGUST 23, 2024 'Mise en place'| Beverley St Studio School Gallery | Staunton, VA USA | Jan 5, 2024 CREATIVE morniNGS ( Shenandoah Valley, Va) | Staunton, VirginiA USA | feb. 16, 2023 SKOPeloS ARTS FOUNDATION |SKOPEloS TOWN, SKOPELOS, GREECE | SEPT. 25 2021
TEACHINGS
GYPSUM SCULPTING FOR BEGINNERS (ADULT + YOUTH) | SANAA DESIGN STUDIOS, STAUNTON, VIRGINIA | OCTOBER 2022-PRESENT INTERMEDIATE PAINTING- CONCEPTUAL RISK-TAKING | JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY, VIRGINIA | OCTOBER 2023 DRAWING II- CONCEPTUAL RISK-TAKING | JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY, VIRGINIA | MARCH/APRIL 2023 YOUTH COURSES IN SCULPTING | HILL CENTER DC, WASHINGTON, DC | JUNE 2020-PRESENT YOUTH COURSES IN SCULPTING | EASTERN MARKET ART SERIES AND TEACHINGS, WASHINGTON, DC | JUNE 2020-Present ADULT COURSES IN PAINTING | SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON ARTS GROUP, WASHINGTON, DC
EXHIBITIONS
A WAY AMONG WAYS | Group Exhibition (tOUR)- oconee cultural arts foundation, AThens, GA USA | jan-feb 2026
OASIS | GROUP EXHIBITiON- MIAMI ART WEEK- CASA ANKAN + ALCOVA, MIAMI, FL USA | DEC 2025 A WAY AMONG WAYS | Group Exhibition- Hartsfield-jackson INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, ATLANTA, GA USA | NOV 2024-NOV 2025
Home | Group Exhibition- Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA USA | April-may 2025
SOLID ROCK | SOLO EXHIBITION- Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, va USA | OctOBER-NOVEMBER 2024
WHEN SHE RESTS, SHE BLOOMS | GROUP EXHIBITION- TILA STUDIOS, ATLANTA, GA USA | AUG-SEPT 2024
MINI RESIDENCIES IN THE GALLERY | GROUP EXHIBITION | STAUNTON AUGUSTA ART CENTER, STAUNTON, VA USA | SEPTEMBER 2024
ART FIELDS | GROUP EXHIBITION- THE R.O.B. GALLERY, LAKE CITY, SOUTH CAROLINA USA | APRIL-MAY 2024
EMERGING ARTISTS | GROUP EXHIBITION- STAUNTON AUGUSTA ART CENTER, STAUNTON, VIRGINIA USA | APRIL 2024
KUMBA III | GROUP EXHIBITION- BLACK ART TODAY FOUNDATION+ NEIMAN MARCUS, TYSONS CORNER USA | FEB. 2024
'Mise en place' | SOLO EXHIBITION- Beverley St Studio School Gallery, Staunton, VA USA | Jan-Feb 2024
BLACK EYED PEAS, GREENS AND CORNBREAD | GROUP EXHIBITION- STUDIO IX & CVILLE BLACK ARTS COLLECTIVE, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA, USA | JAN 2024
MYCELIUM | GROUP EXHIBITION- TERRAIN 2023 EXHIBITIONS + STAUNTON OUTSIDE ARTS, STAUNTON, VA | OCTOBER 2023 TRUE NORTH | GROUP EXHIBITION- See|Me + GALLERY 23 NY, MAnhattan, NY USA | MAy 2023
BLACK ART: IN THE PRESENCE OF LIGHT | Group Exhibition- Black Art Today Foundation + Gallery B, Bethesda, MD USA | May 2023
We The People| Group Exhibition- Black Art Today FoundatioN + MD COMPTROLLER, Annapolis, MD USA | March-June 2023
Blackity Black Black | Group Exhibition- Cville Black arts collective + McGuffey Art CEnter, Charlottesville, VA USA | March 2023 Kumba II | Group Exhibition- Black Art Today Foundation+ NIEMAN MARCUS, Tysons Corner USA | February 2023
NO MAN CAN HINDER ME | SOLO SHOW - BLACK FRIAR'S PLAYHOUSE, STAUNTON, VIRGINIA USA | OCTOBER 2022
ROOTS | GROUP EXHIBITION- GALLERY ARTE AZULEJO + SEE|me, MANHATTAN, NYC USA | SEPTEMBER 2022 GRAND OPENING | SOLO EXHIBITION- SANAA DESIGN STUDIOS, STAUNTON, VA 24401 | JULY 2022
SEE MY COLOR | ONLINE GROUP EXHIBIT- WOMEN'S CAUCUS FOR ART, WASHINGTON, DC USA | NOV. 2020
WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH | GROUP SHOW- 5333 CONNECTICUT, WASHINGTON, DC USA | MARCH 2020
PREMIERE | GROUP SHOW- THE FILLMORE, SILVER SPRING, MD USA | MARCH 2020
BEGINNINGS | SOLO EXHIBITION-PEARLS, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA USA | 2016
COMMISSIONS/Installations
THE POWER OF COMMUNITY| COMMISSIONED PAINTING: SINKLER MILLER MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, OAKLAND, CA | OCTOBER 2025
SISTERHOOD ON THE FRONT LINES|COMMISSIONED PAINTING: NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION + CCWP, CHICAGO, IL | JULY 2025 CEI | BAS-RELIEF SCULPTURAL MURAL INSTALLATION: CEI SERVICES, ANNISTON, ALABAMA | FEBRUARY 2025
VIBRANT VALLEY | MURAL INSTALLATION: VALLEY COMMUNITY SERVICES BOARD, STAUNTON, VIRGINIA | FEBRUARY 2025
FLOURISH | BAS-RELIEF SCULPTURAL MURAL + painted mural INSTALLATION: VALLEY COMMUNITY SERVICES BOARD, STAUNTON, VIRGINIA | JANUARY 2025
ROOTED IN EXCELLENCE| BAS-RELIEF SCULPTURAL MURAL INSTALLATION: NEW HILL DEVELOPMENT CORP- BEACON KITCHEN, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA | DECEMBER 2024
ELENA iI | SCULPTURAL INSTALLATION: ELENA THE SALON EXPERIENCE, STAUNTON, VA | OCTOBER 2024 ELENA I | BAS-RELIEF SCULPTURAL MURAL INSTALLATION: ELENA THE SALON EXPERIENCE, STAUNTON, VA | OCTOBER 2024
RHYTHM AND RESILIENCE | commissioned PAINTING: NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION + CCWP, NEW YORK, NY USA | AUG. 2024 ‘LA SERATA’ COLLECTION | CURATED FUNCTIONAL SCULPTURE SERIES: STUDIO BROAD, STAUNTON, VIRGINIA | DEC. 2023 tribute to bansky | mural installation- boys and girls clubs of wsa, waynesboro, VA | June 2023 Eat Fresh | Mural Installation- Boys and Girls Clubs of WSA, Waynesboro, VA | May 2023
GROW-MOBILE | VEHICLE WRAP DESIGN/CUSTOM PAINTING- PROJECT GROWS, STAUNTON, VA | APRIL 2023
Jake's House | Mural Installation- Robin's Nest Children's Home, Montego Bay, Jamaica | apr. 2023
VIVID GUST| Public mural Installation- JAFCO Family MAtters, Bala Cynwood, PA USA | Feb. 2021
PLANTA| BAS-RELIEF SCULPTURAL MURAL INSTALLATION- PLANTA QUEEN, MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, NY USA | DEC 2020-FEB 2021 mETALLIC | BAS-RELIEF SCULPTURAL MURAL INSTALLATION)- MEDVENOUS INTRAVENOUS INFUSIONS MEDICAL OFFICE, BOWIE, MD, USA | 2019
COLOR BLOCKED| MURAL INSTALLATION- ROBINS NEST CHILDREN’S HOME, MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA | 2019
PEARL ISLAND| PUBLIC MURAL INSTALLATION- PEARL ISLAND CAFE, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA, USA | 2018
UNTITLED | PUBLIC MURAL INSTALLATION- ROBINS NEST CHILDREN’S HOME, MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA | 2018
SOUL OF THE CITY | PUBLIC MURAL INSTALLATION- JEFFERSON SCHOOL CITY CENTER- CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA USA | 2018
TOY’S BATTLE | private COMMISSIONed painting (PORTRAIT)- CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA USA | 2017
ROBIN | PUBLIC MURAL INSTALLATION- ROBINS NEST CHILDREN’S HOME, MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA | 2017
BGC | PUBLIC MURAL SERIES INSTALLATION- BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB, STAUNTON, VA USA | 2016
WELCOME | PUBLIC MURAL INSTALLATION- ROBINS NEST CHILDREN’S HOME, MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA | 2016
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
"TRIBAL III" (PUBLIC ART PROGRAM LED AND FACILITATED FOR STAUNTON CITY SCHOOLS AT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE AND MULTICULTURAL FESTIVAL | STAUNTON, VA | SEPTEMBER 2025
"TRIBAL II" (PUBLIC ART PROGRAM LED AND FACILITATED FOR STAUNTON CITY SCHOOLS AT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE AND MULTICULTURAL FESTIVAL | STAUNTON, VA | SEPTEMBER 2024
"TRIBAL I" (PUBLIC ART PROGRAM LED AND FACILITATED FOR STAUNTON CITY SCHOOLS AT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE AND MULTICULTURAL FESTIVAL | STAUNTON, VA | SEPTEMBER 2023
“FRESH AIR” (A MURAL LED AND FACILITATED FOR THE STAUNTON YMCA STUDENTS- COLLABORATIVE MURAL INSTALLATION) | JONES GARDENS, STAUNTON, VA USA | JUNE 2023
“TRANQUILITY AND STRENGTH” (A MURAL LED AND FACILITATED FOR THE STAUNTON CITY SCHOOLS STUDENTS- COLLABORATIVE MURAL INSTALLATION) | JONES GARDENS, STAUNTON, VA USA | MAY 2022
“QUILTED” (LED AND FACILITATED LOCAL ARTISTS- COLLABORATIVE MURAL INSTALLATION) | TERRAIN BIENNIAL 2021 EXHIBITIONS + JONES GARDENS, STAUNTON, VIRGINIA USA | OCT. 2021
The News Virginian | "New Mural at Boys and Grils Club Promotes Healthy Eating" | June 2023 |https://newsvirginian.com/news/local/education/new-mural-at-boys-girls-club-promotes-healthy-eating/article_5b6abb40-0bd9-11ee-8fd7-bf71eb960dee.html
Augusta Free Press | "Mural at Boys & Girls Club illustrates healthy habits for children" | June 2023 |https://augustafreepress.com/news/mural-at-boys-girls-club-illustrates-healthy-habits-for-children/
august free press| ‘Food is a human right’: Project GROWS welcomes new executive director | May 2023 | https://augustafreepress.com/news/food-is-a-human-right-project-grows-welcomes-new-executive-director/
