EyeMinded

Kellie Jones on Living and Writing Contemporary Art

Working at the Studio Museum has offered many fantastic opportunities, including chances to meet people whose artwork or scholarship helped shape my thought processes and my career goals when I was in school. They are surreal and amazing moments. Meeting Kellie Jones was one of those moments. Her essays on and conversations with artists such as David Hammons, Lorna Simpson and Pat Ward Williams guided me, and her writings continue to be an incredible resource for us here at the Studio Museum. Her new book, EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art, is a collection of some of her writing on contemporary art from the last twenty years. The book is divided into four sections—each featuring an introduction and contribution by a member of her family (her father, activist and writer Amiri Baraka; her mother, poet and author Hettie Jones; her sister, screenwriter, journalist, playwright and author Lisa Jones; and her husband, professor, author and musician Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr.). All are amazing writers who provide new insight into her writing and career as an art historian and curator. EyeMinded is at the top of my reading list.