Jim Floyd Jones (1933-2009) was born in Cedar City, Utah. He was a long time resident of Cedar City and Springdale, Utah. Jones was a painter of broadly realistic Southern Utah landscapes. He resided in Rockville, Utah until his death on December 5, 2009.

His work conveys a powerful sense of grandeur in a tonalist abstracted sense. He was one of the most significant talents in the Utah artistic community. Some of his work is owned and exhibited by the Springville Museum of Art.

Biography adapted from Artists of Utah.

Jim Floyd Jones (1933- 2009 ), of Cedar City and Springdale, Utah, was a broadly realistic painter of southern Utah landscapes. His work conveys a powerful sense of grandeur in a tonalist abstracted sense. He was one of the most significant talents in the Utah artists community and resided in Rockville, Utah until his death on December 5, 2009.  

Early in life, Jones sketches of scenes from newspaper comics showed artistic promise. Recognizing his talent, his parents saved enough to send him to the Art Center in Los Angeles. In the years following, Jones spent winters in Mexico, painting beach scenes and churches, and returning to Utah during the summer. 

His upbringing in red rock country instilled an innate appreciate of the southern Utah landscape and, throughout his career, Jones painted nearly 1,400 works -- most of which portrayed scenes of the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. Many of his works were showcased in public schools, private businesses and LDS temples. 

During the last 25 years of his life, Jones painted landscapes exclusively. The view into Zions National Park from his home, situated on a bluff across from the Virgin River in Rockville, provided Jones with plenty of subject matter for his paintings.   Jones left both his home and last 14 paintings to Southern Utah University to help fund construction of the university's new museum of art. 

Newspaper Articles

"Showing At Local Galleries." The Deseret News, July 25, 1999.

"Showing At Local Galleries." The Deseret News, July 30, 2000.

"Master painter of Southwest leaves house, works to SUU." The Salt Lake Tribune, December 8, 2009

Books

Dunbier, Lonnie Pierson, ed. The Artists Bluebook. Scottsdale, AZ: Askart.com, 2003.

Olpin, Robert S., William C. Seifrit, and Vern G. Swanson. Artists of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999.

Southwest Art. Master Index 1971-1993. Boulder, CO: Southwest Art, 1993.

Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, and William C. Seifrit. Utah Paintings and Sculpture. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith Publishers, 1991.