I was searching for fantasy art involving archers and found a painting by Jeffrey Catherine Jones. I’d never heard of this artist before. After A quick Google image search I thought it’d be cool to reimagine some Magic cards with JCJ’s art in place of the original art. I like re-seeing things that have become familiar. I’ll probably do more articles like this at times when I’m waiting for interviews to come in.
As I was looking at JCJ’s paintings I became curiouser and curiouser about her biography, why the masculine first and feminine second name, etc. I read her bio on Wikipedia. You should read it too. Wikipedia lead me to the way back machine and this article which I also highly recommend.
My TLDR of JCJ’s bio is this:
Born in a patriarchal military family in the South
Got a degree in geology.
Married, had a daughter
Shared a studio with other brilliant artists.
Divorced.
Frank Frazetta called Jeff Jones the best artist alive—I will probably do a Frazetta alternate art article at some point).
It’s now known from the artist’s personal writings that she had felt conflicted about her gender since childhood, always feeling a greater affinity for the fair sex than for her own maleness. Having grown up as a product of the patriarchal 1950s, with a domineering war-hero father, Jones did not know how to cope with her yearning to be female, and felt ashamed. For years she tried to drown these feelings in alcohol, but, after much soul-searching, Jones realized that although she’d been born male, inside she was a woman. She began hormone replacement therapy in 1998, and set out upon a new phase of life as a woman, changing her name to Jeffrey Catherine Jones. Yet even this transition did not bring peace to this gentle, troubled artist, for in 2001, she suffered a nervous breakdown, which led to the loss of her home and studio. However, she eventually recovered, and by 2004 began painting and drawing again. (from the Comics Journal Eulogy mentioned earlier)
She died in 2011 due to a couple illnesses she suffered from (“… severe emphysema and bronchitis as well as hardening of the arteries around the heart …” -Wikipedia).
That’s a lot for a TLDR.
I don’t want to write too much more, as I think the alternate card art I put together is worth some time and looking, but I do want to say that the most meaningful and beautiful part of this Arting Around re-boot, for me, has been getting to know the stories and lives of the artists I’m talking to. Remembering that people are people and not masks or characters of versions of people that we cast them as is really important. Having access to their truths and experience is priceless and I’m super grateful to be involved in this project.
Here are some Magic Carded Jeffrey Catherine Jones illustrations:
My favorite is Kruphix. The imagery is a bit outside of the straight up fantasy Magic illustration normally concerns itself with. Old cards had bible and Shakespeare quotations, and the art was a little off and goofy. I miss that stuff sometimes, a connection to an outside world, to a real world. There’s a familiarity in unbranded ideas, in the non-corporate, that feels really honest and has great power in my mind. An authenticity. A larger world and community where we live beyond forced planeswalker narratives to set up money grubbing movies.
That’s my rant. I’d buy any of these alternate art Jeffrey Catherine Jones cards if they were ever to exist.
Next week, Sandra Everingham!!
Matt Jones (born on at the beginning of the 8th decade of the 2oth century) is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Matt’s played Magic since Revised. Lately Matt’s game has become more about hanging out with friends and shooting the shit and less about competitive tournament play. He writes the weekly Arting Around column on Hipsters of the Coast, interviewing Magic illustrators and occasionally adding his thoughts on the art of various cards and sets. You can see Matt’s artwork on his website.
