Jones was born in 1934 in the Rhondda Valley. Her father was an unemployed coal miner, who later became a railway signalman. She studied literature at Cardiff University, where she met and later married Ken Jones. After graduation, Jones taught English for seven years, while also taking various art classes. She finally left teaching in 1974, at the age of 40, to study art full-time for two years, taking courses in sculpture and printmaking at Croydon College of Art and Design.
