Shields Landon “S.L.” Jones

1901 – 1997

Shields Landon “S.L.” Jones was born and raised in West Virginia. He left school after eight years of education and embarked on a career working on the railroads, eventually achieving the position of shop foreman. The death of his first wife, Hazel, in 1969, established the impetus in Jones to start carving. He began with producing small wooden sculptures of animals but soon progressed to larger carvings of people and heads. He mainly used wood from the yellow poplar, maple, and walnut trees, carving out his figures with locally produced chisels. His figures are representational, both male and female, and generally portray smiling, joyful personalities with strong features. Many are musicians like Jones, who was an accomplished fiddle player. Jones insisted that all the carvings were of no one he knew, but rather were depictions of how he felt that day, stating, “They come from me.” As well as around 150 heads in the same style, Jones also produced a number of drawings, executed in factual colors, fairly accurate to his subject matter of faces and figures. He continued to carve until illness slowed him down, and in later years he concentrated solely on his drawings, continuing to create work well into his nineties. ¹