I
In African-American Egyptian pre-Plato’s Cave Face Jugs, no. 1-17, Doug Jones explores the mysterious ‘Face Jug’ traditions in the Southern United States. Originally created by enslaved people forced to work in the studios of southern white ‘master craftsman,’ the Face Jugs first began appearing as makeshift headstones on the otherwise unmarked graves of enslaved craftspeople, and their families, as headstones. Headstones were illegal for slaves, and public recognition is and was rare.
This is a link to a Marc Lancet lecture that Jones cites in his research.
“…One of the reasons we all love working with objects is that they can tell stories of people who are not otherwise given a voice in the documentary record.” – Hughes
*MESDA is the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.
Jones teaches ceramics at a small college in Michigan. The artist explains that he stumbled upon this history unintentionally. He was looking up examples of historic pottery from the U.S. that he might share with studio students.
Jones developed African-American Egyptian pre-Plato’s Cave Face Jugs, no. 1-17 to call attention to unknown and unrecognized black, brown, and women craftspeople throughout the U.S. as well as the mysterious, originally black tradition itself. Jones developed this series to include sculptures that are shaped as stones, in homage to Reverend George S. Brown (RI, NY) and his famous ‘dry wall’ that he completed in 1866 and that remains standing at the site of Hillside Farm in Michigan (now the Ella Sharp Museum of Art & History).
II
In Abstracted A.I. Allegory: Lime Kiln Field Day, Doug Jones layers histories both visible and obscured. This work asks viewers to consider how spaces of recreation often carry unspoken histories, and how art might confront these legacies while opening paths toward acknowledgment, healing, and collective memory.
III
Materially, Jones traces performance and memory in Water Prints. This is a link to more information on Water Prints, which is also featured through December 31, 2025 as part of the When the River Flows Over the Same Stone Twice exhibit currently on view at the Ella Sharp Museum of Art & History.
IV
To accompany the When the River Flows Over the Same Stone Twice exhibit, Jones produced a zine that includes a QR code that links to this page. The zine features poetry by Phyllis Wheatley and art by Scipio Moorhead.
This is a link to Wheatley’s poetry.
V
‘On Not Knowing’
Download a pdf, here: Doug Jones_2025_The_Ethics_of_Not_Knowing