David Jones’ artistic practice addresses the ways in which ceramic processes can be employed to communicate meaning. He has developed an international reputation in the development of low-temperature firing methodologies, specifically Raku, but also in the ways that fired surface can be used for sculptural expression.
The background in Philosophy has led to a parallel interest in trying to understand the meaning of ceramics in contemporary expression; these issues have formed the basis of the theoretical work that includes many papers delivered at international conferences and the authoring of two books: Firing – Philosophies within contemporary ceramic practice (2007); Raku, Investigations into Fire (1999).

Since the turn of the millennium, the work has involved an installation practice that has seen the development of a ceramic language to address issues of identity through interventions in gallery spaces. The PhD utilised the blackening and burning of ceramic surfaces to allude metaphorically to the elision between clay bodies, vessels and human bodies, bringing a recognition of his identity as a 2nd. Generation Holocaust-survivor. This has evolved into trying to assimilate the horrors of contemporary conflicts where minorities seem to be at the mercy of stronger forces.
It has developed into the creation of a ceramic response to the human meeting/confrontation; this can be both an enhancing experience, as well as destructive. The work forced attention on the hand (as a signifier for the human) – greeting/aggression. This observation progressed to wondering about what is might really mean to use the hand (or non-manual techniques) in Making.
I used a three-month residency at the EKWC, undertaken in 2019, to investigate the interface between digital manufacture and analogue making. Recent conference presentations have reflected on this theme and developed into examining the persistence of the handmade in the era of Artificial Intelligence.