Jonah Ward
Jonah’s Glass-Burned Panels are forged through direct engagement with elemental extremes. Wood, glass, and fire collide in processes he describes as “controlled chaos frozen in time.” The works reveal the scars and imprints of these encounters, preserving moments of intensity in surfaces that radiate both fragility and resilience.
In his most recent series, Textured Paintings, Jonah reinterprets what traditionally defines a painting or drawing. Rectangular pieces of madrone bark, leaves, and paper from bald-faced hornet nests are carefully adhered to wooden canvases in a patchwork pattern, resulting in painting-like forms with a richness and depth rivaling nature itself. For Jonah, these components are not invented but discovered—gathered from the ground, given time and energy, then transformed and displayed in ways that shift how we see the familiar.
