Seitu Jones
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Seitu Kenneth Jones | |
|---|---|
 Seitu Jones | |
| Born | 1951 (age 74–75) |
| Education | M.L.S. in Environmental History and a B.S. in Landscape Design[1] |
| Alma mater | University of Minnesota |
| Known for | Public artist |
| Notable work | “Turnip Greens” Nashville Farmers Market, Nashville, TN, 2019; “At the Crossroads: A Community Meal,” Newfields, Indianapolis, IN, 2019; “Shadows at the Crossroads,” Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, MN, 2019 (collaboration with Ta-coumba T. Aiken and Soyini Guyton); “CREATE: The Community Meal,” St. Paul, MN, 2014 ; Rice Street, Dale Street and Lexington Parkway Light Rail Stations, St. Paul, MN, 2014; Storyteller’s Bench, Rondo Community Outreach Library, St. Paul, MN, 2013; Harriet Tubman, Tubman Center Alliance, Minneapolis, MN, 2003 |
| Movement | Black Arts Movement |
| Spouse | Soyini Guyton |
| Children | Jowell Jones and Jacke Jones |
| Website | seitujonesstudio |
Seitu Jones (born 1951, Minneapolis, Minnesota) is a multi-disciplinary artist and community organizer known for his large-scale public artworks and environmental design. Working both independently and in collaboration with other artists, Jones has created over forty large-scale public art works.[2][3]
Jones is retired from the faculty of the Interdisciplinary Arts MFA program at Goddard College, Port Townsend, Washington and lives and works in St. Paul, Minnesota.[4]
Born in north Minneapolis in 1951, Jones attended Field Elementary School in Minneapolis where he realized then he did not want to be anything other than an artist.[3]
Before graduating from high school his grandfather took him to see the Wall of Respect in Chicago, Illinois which was considered the first collective street mural. For Jones, "just seeing these black figures done large-scale – that blew my mind. From then on, I saw the power of the museum of the streets. That was my turning point to want to create large-scale work."[5]
Seitu Jones finds inspiration in his great-grandfather who born in slavery. After gaining his freedom, he later came and settled in Minnesota in 1877 first working at the St. James Hotel in Red Wing, Minnesota, as a porter. After earning enough money he started a farm in Rochester, Minnesota where Seitu Jones' grandmother was born.[5]
Jones describes growing up in a family that was very creative. In addition to having aunts and uncles that were painters, Jones' father was an artist and a painter. And considers himself fortunate to have their work around as inspiration. According to Jones due to discrimination and widespread racism, his father gave up on art as a career, instead running a print shop from his home. His father was also a sign painter, painting signs for black businesses on Minneapolis' south side.[6]