This Meet the Urbaanite is part of a special series in partnership with the William Edmondson Arts + Culture Festival
Henry L. Jones is a multi-disciplinary artist creating with hands and words in the city. A Detroit native, Henry L. Jones is known to dig deeply inside his cultural roots for inspiration and find the right way to express himself. He’s an award-winning poet, visual artist, playwright, and performance artist/actor is inspired by links to the African Diaspora and his heritage as a Black person. Learn more about Henry!
Henry L. Jones
Company, Business or Organization: Multi-Disciplinary Artist
Hometown: I moved to Nashville from Chicago to run an arts publication for the Nashville African American Arts Association (N4ART). Also, I wanted to live in a warmer city that had more green space.
Title: Poet (Poet Laureate of Hendersonville, TN), Artist, Playwright, Performance Artist/Actor
Tell us what you are creating in Nashville? In Nashville, I’m busy creating both literary and visual art projects and events. Whether a poet, Visual artist, playwright, or performance artist, I stay busy. One recent literary event was a festival. This year at the 37th Annual Southern Festival of Books, a national festival by Humanities Tennessee as well as Vanderbilt University, I recited poetry. I and five other Poet Laureates of Tennessee were featured for the first time at the festival. We made history. We were current and past Poets Laureate, which included: Hendersonville: Henry L. Jones; Knoxville: Rhea Carmon (AKA Rhea Sunshine), Linda Parsons, and Joseph Woods (AKA Black Atticus); and Murfreesboro: Kory Wells and Matthew Leavitt Brown. I felt honored to share the stage with these talented poets who are also literary leaders in their communities and beyond. By days are busy promoting my new book, Black Skillet Blues: Poetry without Cornbread (Beatlick Press, 2025). Some poems from that book I shared at the festival. I appeared as a Featured Poet at other places such as: Poetry in the Boro, Poet’s Corner (Scarritt-Bennett Center), Sumner County NAACP Fundraising Banquet, African Street Festival with Blues musician Henry Perry (taught by DeFord Bailey). Likewise, I’ve been involved in numerous plays, either acting or building sets for Dream 7 Productions, Kennie’s Play House Theatre, Circle Players Theatre, and Actin’ Up Media.
Also, at the Southern Festival of Books as an artist, I created a 4-foot-high handmade book for the Unbannable Library, which is a program of created banned books by artists and writers. I painted my artistic response to James Baldwin’s four banned books: Giovanni’s Room, Another Country, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and The Fire Next Time. On my book’s pages, I painted abstract images full of dynamic forces and intimate interactions like those described in Baldwin’s books. The Library’s founder and curator is artist and APSU professor Paul Collins. I’m producing a documentary about the founding of Hendersonville, Tennessee, which is based on my poem, “In this Season,” published in the anthology In Fullness of the Word: An Anthology of Black American Poet Laureates (5th Woman Books, 2023). The book was the first type anthology ever published.
In the art world, my paintings have hung in many museums and galleries around the country. Some recent exhibitions include: Parthenon Museum “Kindred Links” (a dual art exhibit with Omari Books about gentrification in North Nashville which included three documentaries, poetry, paintings and an installation), Custom’s House Museum “Embracing Blackness: Diasporic Unions” part of the Crafting Blackness Initiative and curated by Carlton Wilkinson and Karlota Contreras Koterbay, MTSU’s Todd Art Gallery “Unseen and Unheard” exhibit, Scarritt-Bennett Center’s Laskey Gallery “The Art of Sight Stories,” and 615 Gallery “Black Mythology: Find Your Place Collage Exhibit” and tribute to Romare Bearden. Local past places include: Tennessee State Museum (“Visions of My People”), Fisk University’s Van Vechten Fine Art Gallery, Tennessee State University’s Van Gordan Art Gallery, Vanderbilt University’s galleries (Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, Bishop Black Cultural Center, Curb Center, and Sarritt Center), In the Gallery, Zeitgeist Art Gallery, Bradley Museum, OZ Arts Nashville, Woodcuts Gallery, Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center, Madison Art Center and many others. Other cities of my exhibited art are Tokyo, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, St. Louis, and others. My arts activities resulted in winning entrances into juried art exhibitions, residences, fellowships, and visiting artists (as well as) artists programs. Some awards are: Art Wire Fellow (The Porch Writers Collective/OZ Arts Nashville, Converge Poetry Fellow (Converge Arts Center), Arts Fellow (Nashville Symphony Orchestra), Hendersonville Poet Laureate, Poet in Residence (Hendersonville Public Library), Dr. Harriette Bias-Insignares Medal of Honor for Poetry (First Poet Laureate of Nashville and State Ambassador of Literature) and more honors.
What inspires you? I’m inspired by the stories of people. I enjoy listening to what others have encountered and endured. When I meet a person, I want to know what challenges that person has overcome. This inspires me a lot, because this is a bridge where two people can meet and share an experience. Many times, those stories are about prevailing. It’s great to hear how someone has overcome what seemed impossible. Such testimonies are important to share with others. You never know what someone is trying to defeat or hold on to. I believe when two people meet, it’s definitely for a reason. The words exchanged and shared connect. This usually happens when one of the people needs the wisdom and knowledge to help. Our lives are woven memories to share with others. I use such encounters in my artistic expression.
What gets you into your creative space? A combination of good coffee, jazz music playing in my ears, and sage burning floating through the air. Also, I need time to spend with my family and nature. These all tame my muse to help release my creativity. The key is to get out of my way. I use Gibbing. It’s a method that I developed to unleash creativity, which involves painting mainly with my hand to apply paint as well as pulling out inner images. It keeps my creativity flowing.
Who is your favorite Nashville artist/musician: Trisha Alicia who has a rich and sultry voice.
What is your favorite Nashville spot you are digging right now? Ed’s Fish House. Get the works on one of his fish sandwiches!
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