Mari Novotny-Jones

Mari Novotny-Jones was a member of the Mobius Artists Group from 1980 to 2021. Her original performance work includes both solo and collaborative pieces. Her international credits include participation in the various Mobius art exchanges in Macedonia, Croatia, and Poland. She participated in Festival Forfest, Czech Republic; Kicevo Artist Colony, North Macedonia; the Harta Festival, Monza, Italy; The 6th Annual Performance Open, Chengdu, China; Eruptio 4 Festival, Transylvania and Navinki 2007, Belarus. In 2008 she traveled to Java to participate in the 4th Perfurbance Festival and to Bangkok, Thailand for the 10th anniversary of Asiatopia. 

Recent local works include “Shrinekeepers” for the 2007 Cyberarts festival as part of a collective of six women performance artists, and “Harvest” for the Mobius International Festival in 2006. She also appeared in Mobilize 2008 and Contaminate, an International Artists Festival, Boston.  In December 2007 she participated in a Boston/Chicago exchange, Rough Trade, sponsored by the Present Tense.

Novotny-Jones taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and at Bridgewater State University. She is a recipient of a 2000 Tanne Foundation Artist Award for excellence in the arts. In 2001, she was awarded an Emerging Artist/Humanitarian Fellowship from the Boston Cultural Council for her performance and teaching work.  Mari also holds a M.A. in independent studies from Lesley University, Cambridge Mass. Her thesis paper is entitled, "The Nature of Transformation in Performance and Ritual."

photo credit:  Descent: Dissent, 2003, collaboration with Milan Kohout, photo by Bob Raymond