New Orleans fine art gallery designed for Black people to ‘see themselves’

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A local woman has dedicated her second career to making a space for fine art that represents Black people.

The Stella Jones Gallery’s start was rather organic as a mother wanting to give her children images that represented them.

According to Jones, “I came with two little girls. Two little girls that started attending school at Sacred Heart Academy. And it bothered me because they started asking questions about why they’re hair couldn’t be down and why it didn’t move in the wind when the windows were down and I had a lot of explaining to do. Why was Jesus white everywhere? So I had to start introducing Black images to them and that’s how our collection grew.”

The gallery that bears her name is actually a second career choice for Jones, whose formal title is Dr. Stella Jones.

“I was, and I still am an obstetrician/gynecologist and I can show you my license, but I don’t practice. My career shifted because my health did. I developed rheumatoid arthritis and I made the decision to stop delivering babies because of the arthritis but I still had a brain and I considered myself still young,” said Jones.

That was in June of 1996. Jones and her late husband Harry opened on the first floor of 201 St. Charles Ave. as a place to honor Black art and that mission continues today.

“It’s important for same reason that I opened it. I think African American art, which represents Black people should have a space. A designated space and we’ll always be able to teach our people, if that’s the word, but they’ll always be able to come into this gallery and see themselves and that’s really important,” said Jones.

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