A Home That Breathes Creativity

Marjorie Jones’ home is a living gallery of creativity. Every corner tells a story: dishes and cups she’s crafted for everyday use line the shelves, while her garden hosts an array of cement sculptures. Inside the house, sculptures by her father share space with her own creations, creating a dialogue between generations.

Marjorie brings the same meticulous care and love for functionality to her canvases as she does to her ceramics and sculptures. For her, art isn’t just meant to be admired; it’s meant to be lived with, touched, and used.

Every corner of her home reflects her hands-on creativity. The curtains are painted by her own hand, while sofas, beds, and chairs are adorned with crocheted creations. Beaded pillows add texture and colour, bringing individuality to each space. Even the t-shirt she wore during our interview was a piece of her own design, showing that her artistry extends into every aspect of her daily life.

Roots and Early Years

Marjorie was born in Cape Town, South Africa, but grew up in Kimberly, where she lived with her grandparents until she was 13. Her father had moved back to Cape Town, but Marjorie remained in Kimberley to complete her schooling.

Despite her school not offering art classes, Marjorie chose to take art as a subject and taught herself. She recalls, “I don’t know how I passed.” After matriculating, she moved to Cape Town, where she worked in an office for a while before returning to Kimberley. There, she lived again with her grandparents and worked in the geology department, drawing maps. It was during this time she realized that geology wasn’t her calling.

Encouraged by her father—who had started his career as a sign writer, an art form in itself—Marjorie decided to pursue formal art studies. Though she first protested, saying she knew nothing about art, her father offered to sponsor her for a year. That support led her to Durban, where she enrolled at DUT (Then Natal Technikon). 

Her first year was a challenge. “It was very difficult, I knew nothing,” she says. Most of her classmates had studied art in high school and were already familiar with the basics. Her first class was life drawing, and she remembers being asked to draw a model seated on a raised platform. “I drew a tiny ant in the middle of the page and felt so embarrassed,” she recalls. She told her father she couldn’t do it, but he reminded her he’d already paid for the year, so she had to stick it out.

For the first three months, Marjorie struggled with just a pen, pencil, rubber, and white paper. Then one day, she discovered a large piece of grey paper and bought herself oil pastels—blue, yellow, and red. “They were like wax crayons but much softer,” she explains. From that moment on, she worked only in colour. By the end of the year, she had her own exhibition, marking the moment she truly discovered she was an artist.

Marjorie says she’s always been drawn to colour and design, preferring bold, direct expression over delicate sketches. “I don’t do little pencil sketches; I like big bold statement paintings.”

Her father’s artistic journey also evolved. After years as a sign writer, he discovered a talent for woodcraft. Marjorie introduced him to her art teacher, who mentored him in sculpture. While her father’s sculptures were more rustic, Marjorie’s own were highly detailed. She initially chose to work with clay, appreciating its flexibility, and later ventured into wood carving. She also learned to spin wool and create garments, expanding her creative repertoire.

Today, Marjorie calls Durban home and says with affection, “It’s the best place.”

Painting and Discovery

She began making monoprints, working in one or two colours. As she learned to mix pigments, she gradually moved into painting, introducing more colour into her work overtime.

Her paintings are layered, often painted over multiple times. “Only when I like it then it stays like that,” she says. She bends the rules by painting oil over acrylic, a technique not traditionally recommended. When asked about this, she explains: “In art you must be prepared to take a chance and experiment, otherwise you’ll get really bored. I take very big chances… and if they don’t work, I give them good sandpaper, prime it, and start over.”

She calls her paintings “transformations” because none of them are originals—they’ve all been painted over many times. Because of this, the final colours are never guaranteed, which makes their stunning results even more remarkable. She uses an acrylic pen to outline her work.

Her artistic style is consistent across all the mediums she uses. She paints the human form, especially the female body, and plants, themes that recur throughout her creative expression.

Teaching and Multitasking

Later on in life, she and her father, sculptor Basil Buck Jones, ran a sculpture and ceramics school in the Bluff, dedicating their home to teaching and guiding other artists. Their home was filled with students shaping clay and carving wood.

Those years made her a master multitasker, often working on more than one project at once—from sculpture to textiles to painting.

A Shift to Self-Expression

When Marjorie moved to Hillcrest at 55, her focus shifted from teaching to creating for herself. No longer bound by the demands of students, she embraced self-expression without rules. Her spacious upstairs workshop became – and remains – a vibrant hub of creativity.

Now at 81 years old, she fills her days with making: painting just outside her bedroom door, crocheting for its calming rhythm, or juggling several projects at once.

Her son Keith has inherited the family gift. His work naturally carries echoes of his grandfather’s sculptural style, continuing the creative legacy in his own way.

Exploring Materials and Methods

Marjorie and Keith often incorporate family heirlooms and natural materials into their work. Keith recalls how fallen trees became functional benches for the yard, while Marjorie describes learning to spin wool. “All the wool as well, hardened it, spun it, darned it, then woven it,” she explains.

She has also spoken of the challenges of working with ceramics, especially the firing process and the patience it requires.

Her paintings, Keith explains, are never static. They are layered over time, constantly reimagined. “They are never really finished—she always brings them back to life in a new vision,” he says. Marjorie herself calls them “transformations” because she can always paint over them again, creating something new. She explained how she adds outlines last, after the colours, so she is never 100% sure how the finished product will look.

Breaking the Rules

Marjorie doesn’t follow the rules when it comes to technique. She believes strongly in experimentation: “If you don’t explore then how would you know what can and cannot be done?”

One example is her use of acrylic pens on textured canvases. She even encouraged us to feel the surface of one of her paintings, recalling that her father used to hang a sign at exhibitions that read: “Please do touch.”

Textiles, Mosaics, and Wearable Art

Her artistry spills over into textiles. She showed us a collection of her crocheted jerseys; all created through freestyle methods. She begins in the middle, works outward, and gradually forms the garment, using bold and unexpected colour combinations.

She also works in mosaics, using glass and ceramics. Her largest piece is a mosaic mural outside her kitchen window—a project that took 18 months to complete and remains the biggest artwork on her property.

She explained the process of making the T-shirt she wore that day: “You draw whatever design you like using bleach—bleach changes the colour of the fabric. Then when you’re happy with your design you dip it in vinegar and that stops the bleach and sort of solidifies the design.”

Reflections on Art and Legacy

Marjorie reflects often on the challenges of promoting art in the digital age. She emphasizes the importance of supporting local artisans and the role social media can play in creating exposure.

Keith, meanwhile, has spoken about the potential of creating a digital archive of her work, ensuring their family’s artistic legacy is preserved.

Her latest exhibition will already be on display by the time you read this—alive with colour, texture, and transformation. Whether you’ve seen it in person or are discovering her story here for the first time, Marjorie’s work continues to speak boldly, generously, and without rules. Her art is not just something to look at—it’s something to feel, to revisit, and to carry forward.