“Searching for a Sign from God”

 Jerry Lynn, Epaul Julien, Sheleen Jones and Steve Prince

Opening: Saturday, August 1, 2020, 1pm – 5pm

Exhibition: October 3 through November 30, 2020

The current upheaval in our social fabric continues to unravel and tear at the seams of what this country was founded on: equal rights for all. Yet with unrest in the streets, police brutality, and a call for justice reform and racial equality, there seems to be no equitable solution. It helps to step back a moment and examine our past: to quiet ourselves, to be reflective, to see how spirituality helped African Americans endure the hardships of the past and how it informs our response to our present situation.

JERRY LYNN, artist

Painter, JERRY LYNN is one half of the Lynn brothers, who received early success collaborating under the name “Twin.” Their work can be found in many celebrity collections including Kanye West, Black Enterprise founder Earl Graves, Ralph White of Earth Wind and Fire, Singer/songwriter Kem, Alonzo and Tracey Mourning, BET Founder Bob Johnson, and former NBA player Ulysses ‘Junior’ Bridgeman. The “Twin” duo have been featured in multiple magazines and publications and were the official artists of the Essence Music Awards, The Tom Joyner Foundation Cruise, The Kentucky Derby Grand Gala, Black Enterprise Golf and Tennis Challenge, and many more. Now working solo, LYNN feels a sense of freedom and often merges historical and current events in his paintings.

2020 by Epaul Julien

Photographer and mixed media artist, EPAUL JULIEN has found success as an assemblage artist and his work has been exhibited in the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Louisiana State Museum, Houston’s Diverse Works, the Darkroom (New Orleans), Arps Gallery (Amsterdam), DeGalerieDenHaag (the Hague) and M.IA Milan Image Art Fair (Milan, Italy). His Katrina series has been catalogued in the New Orleans Museum of Art’s Katrina Exposed (2006). In 2010, the University of New Orleans Press published the book, Before During After: Louisiana Photographers’ Visual Reactions to Hurricane Katrina, a companion to the international traveling exhibition. 

SHELEEN JONES, artist

Sculptor SHELEEN JONES studied under John Scott while earning her BFA from Xavier University, New Orleans in 1991. She earned an MFA from Florida State University in 1994. Several of her sculptures are displayed throughout the New Orleans metropolitan area. Her most recent commissioned bronze sculptures include, “Chief Allison Tootie Montana,” (New Orleans Brass Band), “Opening the Gates” (a memorial to A.P. Tureaud) and Reverend Avery C. Alexander, “Forever a Crusader” of Civil Rights,” (the Reverend Avery C. Alexander Memorial Plaza).

We Carry Generations, Prince, Steve

Printmaker STEVE PRINCE received his BFA from Xavier University, New Orleans and his MFA in Printmaking and Sculpture from Michigan State University. He is Director of Engagement and Distinguished Artist in Residence, Muscarelle Museum of Art, William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. Prince has shown his work internationally in solo, group, and juried exhibitions including the Ohr’-Okeefe Museum, Biloxi, Mississippi; the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi; the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia; the National Gallery of the Bahamas; the Museum of Cultural Arts Center, Santa Catarina, Brazil; the Grand Rapids Museum of Art; the Portsmouth Courthouse Museum; the Louisiana Art and Science Museum; the Museum of African American Culture, New Orleans and the Peninsula Fine Arts Center.

Stella Jones Gallery is proud to be among the 250 Black owned small businesses across the U.S. that are being recognized by Beyonce’ s 2020 directory. We were selected as a 2018 Downtown NOLA Awards Honoree for bringing diversity to downtown New Orleans and are listed as a Cultural Landmark by “The Drum” newspaper and named by “Thrillist” as one of the four spots that have transformed the Arts District in NOLA’s hottest neighborhood. The gallery will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2021 and remains committed to educating collectors, museums and the community on the political, social and economic impact that African American Artists and their work have had.  

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Stella Jones Gallery is proud to be among the 250 Black owned small businesses across the U.S. that are being recognized by Beyonce’ s 2020 directory. We were selected as a 2018 Downtown NOLA Awards Honoree for bringing diversity to downtown New Orleans and are listed as a Cultural Landmark by “The Drum” newspaper and named by “Thrillist” as one of the four spots that have transformed the Arts District in NOLA’s hottest neighborhood. The gallery will celebrate its 25^th anniversary in 2021 and remains committed to educating collectors, museums and the community on the political, social and economic impact that African American Artists and their work have had.