Elementary Students to Showcase Art at UA’s Paul R. Jones Museum

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Fifteen students from Arcadia Elementary School will display their artwork alongside pieces from the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art at The University of Alabama’s Paul R. Jones Museum from Jan. 10 to Feb. 23.

During the semester, Dr. Lucy Curzon, UA associate professor of art and art history, worked with students once a week in an eight-week partnership class to sketch, draw, paint portraits, make collages, and build musical instruments in the context of learning about jazz music and its relationship to the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art.

“Our focus was on historic and contemporary jazz music and its relation to line, color, form, rhythm and mass,” Curzon said.

The students’ works will be displayed alongside the images that inspired them. Collection artists whose works will be on display include Torrai Caldwell, William J. Anderson, Oggi Ogburn, Paul R. Jones, Louis Armstrong, Charles D. Rogers, Lois Mailou Jones, Shelia Turner, Charles Lee and Duke Ellington.

The public is invited to attend the exhibit, “All That Art! All That Jazz!” free of charge.

The Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art’s K-12 initiative started working with Tuscaloosa City Schools in 2014 to foster an interest in art among young students while building community through the public display of fine art in line with students’ interests.

The Paul R. Jones Museum honors the late Paul R. Jones who, during his lifetime, amassed one of the largest collections of African-American art in the world. The Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art at UA includes more than 2,100 works valued at $10.3 million, which Jones donated to UA in 2008.

The Paul R. Jones Museum is located at 2308 6th St. in downtown Tuscaloosa. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the first Friday of every month from noon to 8 p.m.

The Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and Fulbright Scholarships.