Kellie Jones facts for kids

Kellie Jones (born in 1959) is an American expert in art history and a person who organizes art shows. She teaches about art history and African American studies at Columbia University. In 2016, she won a special award called a MacArthur Fellowship. In 2023, she became a member of the American Philosophical Society, a group that promotes useful knowledge.

About Kellie Jones

Kellie Jones's parents were both famous poets, Hettie Jones and Amiri Baraka. She went to Amherst College and later earned her Ph.D. from Yale University.

She studies art from African American artists and artists from Latin America. She also looks at modern art and how museums work. Her writings have appeared in many art magazines. Kellie Jones has been organizing art shows for more than 30 years.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Kellie Jones has received many important awards for her work:

• 2005: David C. Driskell Prize.
• 2012: Artist-in-Residence at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation.
• 2013: Andy Warhol Foundation Art Writers Grant.
• 2013: Terra Foundation Fellow.
• 2016: MacArthur Fellows Program award.
• 2018: College Art Association Award for Excellence in Diversity.
• 2019: American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow.

Art Shows She Organized

Kellie Jones has organized or helped organize many art exhibits. Here are some of them:

• Basquiat. This show was at the Brooklyn Museum in New York in 2005. It featured the work of artist Basquiat.
• Energy / Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964-1980. This exhibit was at The Studio Museum in Harlem in 2006. It showed abstract art by Black artists.
• Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980. This exhibit traveled to several museums. It showed art from Black artists in Los Angeles during the 1960s and 1970s.
• Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties. This show was at the Brooklyn Museum in 2014. It featured art related to the Civil Rights movement.

Books by Kellie Jones

Kellie Jones has also written several books about art:

• Jones, Kellie (2002). Lorna Simpson. This book is about the artist Lorna Simpson.
• Jones, Kellie (2011). EyeMinded: Living And Writing Contemporary Art. This book shares her thoughts on modern art.
• Jones, Kellie (2011). Now Dig This!: Art & Black Los Angeles, 1960-1980. This book goes with the art exhibit of the same name.
• Jones, Kellie (2017). South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s. This book explores the art scene for African American artists in Los Angeles.