Michael Butler Jones

Jones, Michael B., 80, long-time resident of Yellow Springs, died from the effects of Alzheimer’s disease at a nursing home in Springfield, Ohio on October 22, 2026.

An artist and gallery curator, Michael received a BFA in Sculpture and an MFA in Ceramics from The Ohio State University. He was the art gallery curator at Wright State University and the University of Akron, and with Karen Shirley - art professor at Antioch College and Michael’s life-partner for over fifty years - founded, in 2004, the Shirley-Jones Gallery in Yellow Springs. Over the five years of its tenure, the Shirley-Jones Gallery mounted several exciting and thought-provoking exhibitions - extraordinary for a town the size of Yellow Springs.

Perhaps even more than formal education, Michael was profoundly shaped by events in his youth.

Both of Michael’s parents were artists. His father, Murray Jones, was an abstract expressionist painter who taught at Michigan University and The Ohio State University. His mother, Janet MacDougall Jones, was a ceramicist, who led the ceramics program at Antioch College in the late 1960s.

While in grade school, Michael lived for a year with his family in Mexico, where his father, on sabbatical, studied the Mexican muralists. While in high school, Michael lived with his family in Japan, while his father was on a Fulbright scholarship. During this time, Michael studied Japanese language and was introduced to working with clay in the studio of a prominent Japanese artist. These experiences were foundational to his intellectual development, his affinity for Japanese aesthetics, and life-long artistic explorations.

Tragically, Michael lost both his parents in his youth. His partnership with Karen Shirley became an anchoring force in his adult life. Together, Michael and Karen supported each other as artists, made collaborative work together, traveled to Mexico, Egypt, Japan, and Europe, and shared deep interests in Japanese art and culture.

Michael had a very unusual and elastic approach to looking at the world and ideas. A playful thinker, he had a remarkable knack for finding a point from which he could ponder, explore, expand, and land in a place of wonder and speculation. He felt art deeply and was ready and willing to discuss art through the ages: from Edo-era temples to conceptual installations; from traditional pottery to digital image-making. Artmaking was the fuel that animated his life. His later ceramic works - garden stools, dinnerware, sculptural totems - reflected this expansive way of thinking: they were technically sophisticated and aesthetically exuberant.

Michael’s relationship with Antioch College extended through multiple decades: from his mother’s faculty role (1968 - 1969) to Karen’s hiring in 1970, and later as an adjunct faculty for courses in Drawing and Sculpture. His intellectual curiosity encouraged daring and curiosity in his students, whose works Michael always approached with seriousness and compassion. He mentored many students who went on to creative pursuits in diverse fields.

During his decline, Michael was supported by multiple caregivers and many villagers who looked out for his daily welfare. It was this kind attention to his daily well-being that allowed him to continue to live at home for several years after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

In addition to the myriad friends whose lives Michael’s mentorship helped shape, he is survived by his cousin Joan Tollifson in Ashland, Oregon.

A memorial service in Yellow Springs will be planned and posted here at a later date.

The family is being served by CONROY FUNERAL HOME.