An Artistic Calling

Throughout her 30 years as an artist, Caroline Jones has continued to evolve as a painter and a sculptor and as a businesswoman. Now, she is starting a company called Digital and Stone that expands her focus on creating monuments to memorialize those who have passed away.

“I had a very close and personal experience with death at a formative part of my life,” she says. “And it changed the way I thought and felt forever.”

Caroline believes that her monuments give those who are grieving a landing place to connect and honor their loved ones. “Each memorial is created specifically for the client and is inspired by their memory,” she says. “By spending caring time with the families, I am able to combine concept drawings with materials of stone or bronze and carve something that pays homage to their eternal relationship.”

Caroline began creating monuments when the opportunity arose about five years ago. There was an exhibition at the Getty Museum where a demonstration by the head stonemason of Canterbury Cathedral in England was supposed to take place. Since the mason couldn’t bring her stone carving tools with her, Caroline lent out hers. This eventually led to her receiving her first commission for a memorial headstone.

Digital & Stone will go beyond Fine Art Monuments, however, “The concept of the new platform is to combine land conservation and restoration with eternal legacy,” she says. “I am a huge fan of green burial and hope to combine a more environmentally sustainable model of burial with memorials. Preserving the memory not the body will definitely be at the core of our new digital app, which will basically be a conduit for people to upload their memories and store them in perpetuity. We would curate the content and combine it with a GPS system. That plus the combination of community involvement, green belt land acquisition, nondenominational ceremony, green burial and fine art parks and memorials is our vision and goal.”

The natural environment has always been an important part of her life. “I was sent to boarding school, very sort of Harry Potter, when I was about 7 years old,” she says. “I’m from England, and my father was a Brigadier in the British Army and very traditional.”

“What became clear early in my life was that the only consistent thing in it was how good I felt in nature, especially when I was drawing. I left school and have been painting and creating artwork and travelling extensively ever since.”

Caroline believes that her goals for Digital and Stone are deeply profound and takes her art to a whole new level. “Only when memory fades does a person truly disappear,” she says. “There’s nothing more important than the connection to those you love, whether they be alive or not. Creating something to connect the souls is incredibly meaningful.”