Marcia Jones (born circa 1972 in Chicago Illinois) is an American professor and contemporary artist, known for her multimedia and large-scale installation works.[1]
Marcia Jones | |
|---|---|
 Artist Marcia Jones | |
| Born | 1972 (age 51–52) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of North Carolina Greensboro and Clark Atlanta University |
| Children | 1 |
Early life and education
editJones was born premature at Chicago's Little Company of Mary Hospital to Paul Davis and Christine Jones. After moving many times with her mother, she spent her high school years in Los Angeles, CA at Marshall High School. Jones majored in Fashion Design at Clark Atlanta University where she later taught and moved to New York in 1995 after being inspired by artists like Radcliffe Bailey to pursue fine art. She studied under Juan Logan, Kojo Griffin, Susan Page and Cora Cohen at UNC Greensboro to earn her MFA in visual arts in 2004.[1][2]
Career
editJones moved to New York in 1995 to pursue fashion design and worked for Harriette Cole before finding her calling as a fine artist. She was a kinetic (performance) painter, painting to live music on stage, with the Brooklyn Bohemian scene at venues such as the Brooklyn Moon Cafe that incubated the beginnings of careers such as Mos Def, Common, Saul Williams, Erykah Badu, Kevin Powell, and Sarah Jones.[3][4][5][6] Her work appears as the cover art for Saul Williams' book, The Seventh Octave and his album, Amethyst Rock Star, and she collaborated with him on his book, S/HE.[7][8]
Jones' work was featured on numerous book covers and has exhibited at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Rush Arts Gallery and The 18th street Art Center, Weatherspoon Art Museum, The Greensboro Artist League, New Image Art Gallery, and Spelman College. She was a Professor of Art at Clark Atlanta University 2004-2009[9]
Jones' work explores personal identity, sexuality, history and the female paradigm.[10][11] Her exhibition at the Harvey B. Gantt Center explored the dichotomy of the virgin and the whore through an analogy with Haitian Voodoo motifs and Magic City strip club culture.[1][12] There was significant controversy about the piece.[13][14]
Jones was a 2011 Artist-in-Residence at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, NC.[15] Also in 2011 Jones was chosen to discuss creativity on a panel for Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.[16] She was featured in the Afropunk Showcase at Moogfest in 2014.[17] In 2005 she received a Caversham Printmaking Fellowship and attended the Spelman College Taller Portobello Artist Colony in 2006.[1]
In 2018 Jones' work was included in the exhibition Black Blooded at the New Gallery of Modern Art in Charlotte, NC. A performance of hers was featured as part of the opening reception, in which she wore raven feathers and a white dress while creating a live kinetic drawing in charcoal. The ephemera from the work was displayed in the gallery following the exhibition. Also included in this exhibit, curated by Jessica Moss, were works by Mickalene Thomas, Theaster Gates, Hebru Brantley, Zun Lee, Rashayla Marie Brown and Kerry James Marshall.[18]
Also in 2018 Jones included work in The Black Woman is God: Assembly of Gods an annual exhibition of work by Black women artists at SOMArts Gallery in San Francisco.[19]
Personal life
editJones met poet Saul Williams after moving to New York and in 1996 birthed their daughter, Saturn River Renge, after sixty-hour labor.[1][20] In 2004, three days after earning her MFA, Jones was hospitalized and diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.[1][21]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "The Trove: Marcia Jones". pendulum. July 7, 2011. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ Art & Artist: Marcia Jones, Creative Arts Guild and Splash Media Group, June 27, 2011, retrieved September 17, 2018
- ^ Bennu, Pierre (February 5, 2009), the Unscene: Marcia Jones part 1, exittheapple, retrieved September 17, 2018
- ^ "jessica Care moore Mixes Art + Activism to a 'Tea' [INTERVIEW]". EBONY. October 28, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ Connor, Jackson (January 26, 2016). "Brooklyn's Nkiru Books Rises Up Once More With Help From Talib Kweli". Village Voice. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "Brooklyn Boheme - A feature documentary by Diane Paragas and Nelson George - Synopsis". www.bkboheme.com. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ Nieves, Evelyn (September 27, 1998). "SHOPPING WITH/Saul Williams; Downtown to Stardom in One Leap". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "Saul Williams - Amethyst Rock Star". Discogs. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "Center for Women Writers Presents The Salon Series: Salem Visual Arts Student Workshop with Marcia Jones | Salem College". www.salem.edu. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "State of the Arts: Marcia Jones | #blkSOTA S2Ep2". Vimeo. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "State of the Arts | Marcia Jones follow up: Displaced Oshun Theory". blackartinamerica.com. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "Living in Color". Issuu. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "Marcia Jones discusses "The Displaced Oshun Theory"". Creative Loafing Charlotte. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "Provocative Questions for Interesting People". www.charlotteviewpoint.org. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ 20 years of Artists-In-Residence McColl Center
- ^ "The NEA's Charlotte visit". www.knightfoundation.org. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "Nerd Rave: Moogfest's Impeccable Selection of Synths and Sounds". www.keyboardmag.com. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "'BLACK BLOODED': An exhibition that's 'undeniably, unapologetically black'". charlotteobserver. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
- ^ "Artists of color reclaim heritage in 'Black Woman is God'". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
- ^ ifelicious (January 23, 2012). "(Pt 1/2) Interview with Saul Williams: Saturn's daddy and 'Volcanic Sunlight'". Ifelicious. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ Moses, Olufunke. "Artist Marcia Jones works through her pain". Creative Loafing Charlotte. Retrieved March 6, 2016.