Renowned artist Seitu Jones to speak at Black History Month event

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 In celebration of Black History Month, Minnesota’s Black Community Project will host a​  presentation featuring renowned Minnesota artist Seitu Jones. The presentation, “Celebrating the Artistry of Seitu Jones,” will take place at the Minneapolis Central Library in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday, Feb. 22.

Jones was born in Minneapolis in 1951. Working on his own or​ ​in collaboration, he has created over 30 large-scale public artworks. He was awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board​ ​Fellowship, a McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship, a Bush Artist​ ​Fellowship, a Bush Leadership Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts/Theater Communication Group​ ​Designer Fellowship. He was also awarded a 2001-2002 Loeb​ ​Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and was​ ​the Artist-in-Residence in the Harvard Ceramics Program.

Other notable achievements include a Millennium Artist-in-Residence for 651 Arts in​ ​Brooklyn, NY, and he was the first Artist-in-Residence for the City of Minneapolis. In 2014, he integrated artwork into three stations for the new Greenline​ ​Light Rail Transit system in the Twin Cities.

A 2013 Joyce Award from Chicago’s Joyce Foundation allowed​ ​Jones to develop CREATE: The Community​ ​Meal, a dinner for 2,000 people at a table a half a mile long. The​ ​project focused on access to healthy food.

Jones also worked with members of his neighborhood to create Frogtown Farm, a five-acre farm in a new St. Paul city park. He was awarded a Forecast Public Art Grant to build a floating sculpture as a research vessel for the Mississippi River.

In addition to the above, Jones was the recipient of the 2017​ ​Distinguished Artist Award from the McKnight Foundation. His 2017 HeARTside Community Meal in Grand Rapids, MI, was awarded the Grand Juried Prize for ArtPrize Nine.

Jones is a retired faculty member of Goddard College in Port​ ​Townsend, WA, who has a B.S. in landscape​ ​design and an M.L.S. in environmental history. He is also a​ ​member of the board of managers for the Capitol​ ​Region Watershed District.

“Celebrating the Artistry of Seitu Jones” takes place Saturday, February 22 at 11 am– 1 pm in the Doty​ ​Board Room at the Minneapolis Central Library, located at 300 Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis.

For more information about this presentation, email Minnesota’s Black Community Project President Anthony​ ​Scott at anthony.scott@comcast.net or call 612 578-017.

— Information provided by Minnesota’s Black Community Project.