Initial Jones Collection exhibition a hit

3:04 p.m., July 15, 2005--Collectors, artists, art lovers and representatives from other universities, as well as members of the general public, visited the UD campus from all parts of the country for the inaugural exhibition of works from the Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art, which was on display throughout the 2004-05 academic year.

Amalia Amaki, exhibition and collection curator and assistant professor of Black American Studies and art, said that, for the opening festivities alone, visitors came from Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Virginia and St. Louis. Two couples from Los Angeles met for the first time in the airport and discovered they were coming to see the collection. Howard University, Morgan State University and Spelman College were among the schools represented on the official opening day, Nov. 3.

The theme for that event was “A Day of Celebration with Paul R. Jones,” with a series of activities from video presentations to conversations with Jones, ending with a reception for collectors.

Signed copies of A Century of African American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection, which Amaki edited, were quickly sold. The book has been so popular it is now out of print, and Rutgers University Press is buying back copies from the collection to sell, Amaki said.

The visits never stopped, Amaki said, and 39 groups have visited the collection. The collection is an attraction and resource for art lovers, professionals and the general public, and a series of special events drew even more viewers to campus throughout the year.

“Last fall, we held a teacher-training workshop on strategies of working art into the curriculum and ways of using the collection with 15 elementary and middle school teachers. It was highly successful: Teachers brought back their students to visit, and some teachers developed programs within their schools,” Amaki said.

Approximately 2,000 Delaware school children visited the collection. Edison Charter School sent about 800 students in groups of 120 to view the collection, and students from such private schools as Tatnall and Tower Hill, as well as public school children attended the exhibition.

Amalia Amaki

Among the many special events connected with the collection was a Rotary reception for African-American doctors, lawyers and dentists and a reception for the Wilmington Links, an African-American women’s organization. The Black Student Union at UD held a Black and White Affair, where everyone came wearing black and white. When UD’s admissions office held its overnight program for underrepresented minority students and their parents last fall, a reception for approximately 250 persons was held at the exhibit, Amaki said.

In December, the University and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts held a daylong program, “Telling Tales: Narrative Threads in Contemporary African American Art,” featuring a lecture by Sharon Patton, director of the National Museum of African Art of the Smithsonian Institution.

In January, a program for UD was held with about 40 faculty and staff attending. Carole Marks, professor of sociology, and Ritchie Garrison, acting director of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, were among the faculty presenters. Peter Williams, professor of art, and Renee Marquez, associate professor of art, both gave gallery talks on the collection.

Martha Carothers, professor of fine arts and visual communications, had students in her design class do projects based on items in the collection, Amaki said, and other faculty have used the collection for their classes and research.

Other events during the exhibition included a jazz concert, film screenings featuring the work of African-American women and a poetry reading of works inspired by images in the collection.

Now, a new exhibit, "Abstract and All That," featuring works from the Paul R. Jones Collection, is on view at the Mechanical Hall Galleries until Dec. 9. Showcased are the works of modern abstract African-American artists, and Amaki said she foresees another influx of visitors and activity centered on the collection.

Article by Sue Moncure
Photo illustration by Rich Dunoff and Barbara Broge
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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