Did you know that Dr. Jones was one of 18 scholars and historians invited to brainstorm and help identify key component to be included in The 1619 Project? Learn more about how this historic multimedia volume came together here.
American Academy of Arts & Sciences Announces 2019 Members Including Artist Mark Bradford, Scholar/Curator Kellie Jones, and Poet Elizabeth Alexander →
Congratulations to Dr. Jones for being elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in a class that includes Los Angeles-based artist Mark Bradford, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation president Elizabeth Alexander, and First Lady Michelle Obama. Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.”
To read more, click here.
South African Artist Mary Sibande Has Solo Exhibit at Leroy Neiman Gallery →
Columbia News covered South African artist Mary Sibande's first solo exhibition in New York, for which Dr. Jones served as a curatorial advisor. Read more about the exhibition here.
The Broad Presents the West Coast Debut of "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983" →
In anticipation of the west coast debut of "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983," EUR highlighted the launch weekend's events, including the Art & Politics: Soul of a Nation Symposium. Read more here.
The Gibbes Museum of Art to Exhibit “Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem” →
In anticipation of the "Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum" arrival at the Gibbes Museum, the Charleston Chronicle discussed the exhibition and accompanying publication, which includes an essay from Dr. Jones. Click here to read more.
Artist Mickalene Thomas and author Darnell Moore explore race, identity at ‘Entangled Spirits’ conversation →
The Columbia Spectator covered the "Entangled Spirits" discussion that Dr. Jones moderated featuring artist Mickalene Thomas and writer Darnell Moore. If you weren't able to attend, you can read more about the discussion here.
Culture Talk: Andrew Perchuk on How the Getty Research Institute’s African American Art History Initiative Came Together →
Culture Talk sat down with Andrew Perchuk to discuss the Getty Research Institute's African American Art History Initiative and how it came together, including Dr. Jones's participation. Read more here.
They went to Amherst? More than 30 famous attendees of Amherst College →
Dr. Jones was included in MassLive's profile of 30 famous attendees of Amherst College. See what they had to say (and who else made the list) here.
The Getty to Start a Research Center for African-American Art
The Getty Research Institute recently announced its African-American Art History Initiative, a new program designed to gather and organize African-American art history resources in a centralized manner, and Dr. Jones is proud to serve as a senior consultant on the project. The project is off to a strong start with the Getty Research Institute's acquisition of the papers of Los Angeles-based Betye Saar, a pioneer in assemblage.
For more information about the Getty Research Institute, this initiative and Dr. Jones's role, read more in the New York Times and the Manhattan Mercury.
Betye Saar, pictured in her Los Angeles studio.
Credit: Ashley Walker, via Robert Projects, Los Angeles
The Before Columbus Foundation announces the Winners of the Thirty-Ninth Annual AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS →
Congratulations to Dr. Jones for receiving the Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award at the Thirty-Ninth Annual American Book Awards for South of Pico. The award will be presented on Sunday, October 28 in San Francisco, CA. To learn more about all of the award winners and this year's ceremony, click here.
College Art Association Announces 2018 Awards for Distinction →
The College Art Association has announced their 2018 Awards for Distinction recipients, and Dr. Jones was honored as the inaugural winner of the Award for Excellence in Diversity. Read more here.
A Charles White Retrospective Comes to The Art Institute Of Chicago →
Charles White, Harvest Talk, 1953
© The Charles White Archives Inc.
Dr. Jones is proud to have contributed "Charles White, Feminist at Mid-Century" to the accompanying catalogue for "Charles White, a Retrospective." See what Broadway World Chicago had to say about the exhibition - which will begin its run in Chicago in June before traveling to New York and on to Los Angles - here.
The Best Art Books of 2017 →
South of Pico was named one of the best art books of 2017 by The New York Times! Click here to see what they had to say.
Books: Best of 2017
Artforum named South of Pico one of the best books of 2017! You can see more in the December 2017 issue.
Hidden Noise Podcast - Episode No. 3 →
Dr. Jones sat down with Even Magazine editor Jason Farago on episode no. 3 of their Hidden Noise podcast. Listen here.
The Modern Art Notes Podcast - Episode No. 287 →
Dr. Jones joined host Tyler Green to chat about South of Pico. Listen here.
LARB Radio Hour: Kellie Jones “South of Pico”: Black Artists in LA in the 60s & 70s →
Dr. Jones joined the hosts of the Los Angeles Review of Books Radio Hour podcast to chat about South of Pico. To hear this discussion about the social, economic, historical, and artistic forces that influenced a generation of Black artists in Southern California, click here.
An Art of Dislocation and Reinvention Reflects the Epic of Black America →
Barry Schwabsky of Hyperallergic takes a look at the history and art of Los Angeles as explored in South of Pico. See what he has to say here.
SOUTH OF PICO Is Now Available! →
South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s is now available!
In South of Pico Dr. Jones explores how the artists in Los Angeles's black communities during the 1960s and 1970s created a vibrant, productive, and engaged activist arts scene in the face of structural racism. Emphasizing the importance of African American migration, as well as L.A.'s housing and employment politics, Jones shows how the work of black Angeleno artists such as Betye Saar, Charles White, Noah Purifoy, and Senga Nengudi spoke to the dislocation of migration, L.A.'s urban renewal, and restrictions on black mobility. Jones characterizes their works as modern migration narratives that look to the past to consider real and imagined futures. She also attends to these artists' relationships with gallery and museum culture and the establishment of black-owned arts spaces. With South of Pico, Jones expands the understanding of the histories of black arts and creativity in Los Angeles and beyond.
South of Pico is now available at Amazon, directly from Duke University Press and from IndieBound local bookstores.
Witness: LaToya Ruby Frazier in Conversation with Kellie Jones →
LaToya Ruby Frazier, Mr. Jim Kidd (Campaign for Braddock Hospital; Save Our Community Hospital), 2011
Courtesy the artist, Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York/Rome, and Michel Rein, Paris/Brussels
Dr. Jones takes on the role of interviewer in this conversation with artist, photographer, activist and fellow MacArthur Fellow LaToya Ruby Frazier. See what she had to say about collaborating with family, gentrification in her hometown and the importance of being a witness here.