Alexandria Mooney Jones

FIREWORK ARTIST

Creating with Fireworks

Using only lit, burning fireworks, I begin each piece as part artist, part mad scientist.  Fireworks as a medium are volatile and unpredictable.  All techniques and processes are self-discovered.  My first layer is the least controllable of my techniques.  Reacting to that layer, I make decisions about composition, selecting areas to mask or burn.  Color selection is vague; a “red” could present as burgundy, fire engine red or pink, depending on my distance to the canvas, as well as the dispersion rate.  As the fireworks burn, organic dye is vaporized into colored smoke; depending on the technique I am attempting to achieve, the smoke is trapped or manipulated around and through things set on the canvas for different effects.  Unexpected compositional effects, such as burn holes and singed areas, happen when the fireworks misfire or expel the contents onto the canvas in a ball of fire.  Although unintentional, these incidents become part of my composition-you cannot erase a burn.  I am attempting to control the uncontrollable. My work is at the mercy of explosives and fire. Fireworks, as a medium, create a tension that pits celebration against trauma.  And in the strongest pieces, neither gives way to the other.

Artist Statement

My mother was the biggest influence in my life. She was an art teacher and taught me to look at everything with an artistic eye and see the potential in anything. Thanks to her, I have always been drawn to experimental mediums, assemblage, using discarded things and “thinking outside the box”. When my mother passed away in 2005, after a lengthy battle with cancer, my world shattered. I struggled to find my voice as an artist. Creativity is such an emotional experience, one that my mother and I often shared, and we collaborated on many projects over the years. Having to deal with life without her was an early lesson in how uncontrollable life can be. This may contribute to why I am drawn to the uncontrollable tendencies of fireworks, which are the subject of my work. Sometimes fireworks do what I desire, and sometimes they don’t. When they create unintentional marks, I must figure out how to incorporate these marks into my composition.  It is my goal to make original works of art, using never before seen mediums and non-traditional techniques. I am attempting to control the typically uncontrollable. My work is at the mercy of explosives and fire. Fireworks, as a medium, represent the tension between celebration and trauma. Specifically, the trauma of explosion; a destructive force. The art pieces have bright, vibrant colors, but not a drop of paint has been used. The colors are left behind by the exploding fireworks. My artwork proves that there is beauty in the experimental, beauty in the unintentional, beauty in the uncontrollable, and sometimes even beauty in trauma. As I think it over, that really is the core of who my mother was. She always saw the beauty in everything and everyone. Art is beauty, and I hope my artwork makes my mother proud.

The “Spark”