A Stone’s Throw Away

Ruth Smith Gallery, January 14 - January 16, 2026

Matthew Jones spent two weeks living as an artist in residence at the Ruth Hellen Smith Gallery in North Tawton, England. He spent those two weeks driving and hiking around Dartmoor National Park, where he endeavored to soak up the essence of the moor, and the people’s relationship to it as rapidly as he could. He met the locals, recited poetry, drank heavily, and worked feverishly. While a resident, Jones participated in critique with the local art community, led an encaustic workshop, and produced the exhibition, A Stone’s Throw Away. Before embarking on this journey, Jones prepared his paperboards with a pulp mixed with sphagnum moss. This was to form a material connection to the region’s history. Dartmoor is filled with peat bogs that in prior decades were dried and harvested as a coal substitute. Today those peat bogs are seen as an important carbon sink, and efforts are underway to restore and preserve them.