Middle School: Summer’s Where You’ll Find Me by Louise Jones (Art Card)

About the Artist

Louise Jones, also known as Ouizi, creates large-scale murals of plants and flowers for public spaces, including museums and public parks, throughout the United States. Her murals are inspired by the plants and animals that are local to the areas where she travels to create art.

About the Art

Originally commissioned by the NCMA as part of the 2018 exhibition The Beyond: Georgia O’Keeffe and Contemporary Art, Jones’s mural Summer’s Where You’ll Find Me continues to “bloom” on the brick facade of East Building. It took the artist four days to create the mural by spray painting and painting by hand. The finished mural measures 48 feet tall and 24 feet wide.

Look Closely

• What is the first thing you notice about this work of art? Where do you think it might be located?
• How many different flowers do you see? Have you seen any of them before? If so, where and when?

Discuss

Jones says her work is “not street art, it’s not graffiti, it’s a mural.” What do you think the difference is between public art, such as murals, and graffiti? Are there public murals in your school or in your community? What do these murals celebrate, communicate, or promote? Where do you think a good place might be for a mural in your school, and what message should it send?

Reflect

In an interview with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Jones said, “I think the most important thing that I’m trying to convey with my work generally is an appreciation of nature and universal beauty and universal harmony.” She is influenced by art from many cultures, including Chinese watercolors, Japanese woodblock prints, and paintings by American artist Georgia O’Keeffe. How would you define “universal beauty”?

Learn More

Visit the “Learn More” sidebar to find more information about the work of art and artist and find other works of art that relate to the subject matter, media, and techniques used by the artist.