Kezzia Jones: The scholar who paints the mural

By Horace Mills, BVI News Online Journalist

Kezzia Jones, who holds a Master’s Degree in the Sciences, recently surprised some members of her Carrot Bay community.

Many didn’t know she is a top-notch painter until recently when she completed a mural at the new location of D’Coal Pot Restaurant in Carrot Bay.

Even the painter, who does painting for a hobby, confessed that she doesn’t consider herself a ‘professional’ painter.

But she poured out her natural talent on a wall, and immediately lifted the spirit of her seaside community.

“I grew up in Carrot Bay. Everybody knows me, but they didn’t know I could paint. Everyday when I was painting [the mural], everybody would say they are proud that someone from the village is doing something to beautify the village – something to showcase the talent that we have in the village, especially something coming from a young woman.”

“Everyone has given me positive responses so far; everyone is just happy,” Jones told BVI News Online.

Representative of the First Electoral District that includes Carrot Bay, Andrew Fahie, said he too has been wowed. “I am particularly in awe of how Mrs Evelyn Dawson gave a youth from the Carrot Bay area, Kezzia Jones, the opportunity to paint an awesome cultural mural on the outside of her restaurant, on a wall facing the road,” Fahie added.

Jones, in the meantime, stated that her painting has been improving steadily.

“I started dabbling in the Arts when I was in primary school, but I developed my skill when I was in about fifth form at Elmore Stoutt High School. That’s when I started to paint on rocks, because that was all I had at the time,” the painter explained.

“When I went to college, I got access to canvas and stuff like that. So, it is just progressing; I am painting murals and everything now.”

Jones, who she does work on a commission basis, has a special love for landscapes.

“Mostly, I love to paint abstracts and landscapes. I guess my love for landscapes came from being away [from the British Virgin Islands] at school. I used to love seeing the beaches and the palm trees and everything. So, I wanted to capture a little bit of home in my paintings,” she further explained.

Jones told BVI News Online that, going forward, she is prepared to go where painting takes her.

“I am trying to see where it will take me. I started on a small scale, and I never thought that I would be painting murals or anything today. So, whichever direction it decides to take me, I am willing to go.”

The painter, who is also an exceptional singer, played the tenor saxophone in secondary school.

She is the sister of well-known community singer Iyaz, and is the daughter of retired guidance counselor Brenda-Lee Jones and Samuel ‘Kenny’ Jones.

Impressive Science degrees

The multi-talented painter, who once served as a tutor here in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), has been making huge strides in the Sciences.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Physiology and Neurobiology from the University of Connecticut.

She just completed her Master’s Degree in Biomedical Science/Medical Laboratory Sciences, with concentration on Behavioural Neurosciences.

Jones, who also is a graduate of Isabella Morris Primary and the H Lavity Stoutt Community College, will soon pursue her PHD in Neurosciences.

“I am a Science person,” the scholar told BVI News Online, while she recalled her mother buying her a microscope to help satisfy her childhood curiosity about the things around her.

“It (the tiny microscope) was one of the best gifts I’ve had,” she said, laughing. “I just find it funny that I am using a much bigger microscope now.”

Jones, who works in a Behvioural Neurosciences lab in the United States, is garnering enough experience to ultimately return home and give back to the community.

“I always tell people I can’t see myself spending all my days in the United Stated,” she said. “Eventually, I would like to come back home when I have enough experience and I feel like I can adequately contribute to the community in a way that would improve the healthcare system in the BVI. I will definitely come back home to help build the BVI.”