Local artist Yemaya Jones’ textile designs have been displayed at such notable places as the Smithsonian Institution, yet she is still delighted and enthused to share her art with the local community.

A smile never left her face as she greeted old and new friends at the opening of her first one-woman show at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in Frederiksted – “Four Decades of Design, a Dyers Journey.”

The show opened April 25 and runs through May 24.

Jones dyes all-natural silk, wool, cotton and rayon textiles in all the colors of nature using batik methods and the Japanese itajime clamp method. She said her inspiration and designs come from the vibrant colors of the Caribbean and an ancient, ancestral culture. She has perfected techniques using turkey basters and eye droppers to apply color and create intricate designs. The fabric is turned into gorgeous wall hangings, coats, pants, tunics, scarves, and skirts.

She credited the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival show "The Will to Adorn," which included her work, for making sense of her life and defining her.

“The Smithsonian validated my contribution and legacy,” Jones said. She added it was quite a recognition that they chose her to take part in the festival. The festival showcased the distinctive ways African American identities are expressed through attire and adornment.

“My will is to adorn people with one-of-a-kind pieces of classic and timeless clothing that make people feel joyous,” Jones said. “There is so much energy from the colors and designs.” The apparel is light weight and free flowing with a soft breezy feel and clean, simple lines.

After the festival she decided it was time to define her own legacy and document her art.

Jones obtained a grant from the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts to document her work and display it locally in the show on exhibit in Frederiksted. Through media outlets and word of mouth she sought out pieces she had made in the past to photograph and display. She requested owners of her pieces to wear their works of art to the opening and they were photographed by David Berg, of Blackwood Imaging.

“It was so rewarding and fun seeing some of the vintage things from 20 years ago that I forgot about making,” Jones said. “The pieces still looked lovely. I was delighted to see them.”

At the opening, masked students from St. Croix Educational Complex and Central High School, along with some of Jones’ friends, modeled her apparel standing still and silent as mannequins around the museum.

Actor Billie Dee Williams has a scarf designed by Jones that he wore to the Academy Awards one year. She said she wished she had been able to record him wearing it. Actor Bill Cosby has a tie and author Toni Morrison has a scarf. She has created apparel worn by political activist Angela Davis and Grammy winner Erykah Badu. Jones has worked with model Tyra Banks and had items in Essence Magazine. She has created designs for the annual Congressional Black Caucus fashion show and other shows. She has exhibited in galleries across the nation including the Studio Museum of Harlem.

Jones and her husband of 35 years, John Obafemi Jones, had a show last August in Montgomery Ala., at the Rosa Parks Museum. John creates paintings inspired by music and dance.

Jones has always concentrated on the textile design and left the sewing up to some very talented local seamstresses including: Delia Anderson, Viola Mitchell, Lorna Ludlow, and Denise Collins.

When she retires from her job at St. Croix Educational Complex, where she teaches a textile design class she implemented, she plans to write a dyer’s technique book. Jones has been a teacher in the St. Croix district since 1978, when she moved to St. Croix.

Jones said her mother, Edith Goldman-Rice, a talented artist and art teacher at the Philadelphia School of Art, influenced her. She said her mother painted murals, but as a black woman without a degree she did not get the recognition she deserved. Jones said when she was a girl she always enjoyed working with her hands doing arts and crafty things girls did.

Jones has her degree in education from the Long Island University. She has continuously taken post graduate classes in fashion, design and dying.

“I like to take classes and workshops to support my passion and explore new techniques,” Jones said. “I will continue to work as a dyer as long as I can.”

She hopes her daughter on St. Croix, Indigo Jones-Berg, is going to take the art of a dyer farther. She said she is blessed to have five successful daughters and four grandchildren.

Jones said her faith supports her and is instrumental in her life .

She tells about asking a dyer at a workshop one time about who to pray to and how to pray to get the results she wanted. She was told to just get on her knees and pray for the best results.

Faith has helped her through breast cancer and she said she shouts it from the rafters that she is a four-year breast cancer survivor.

“The more that breast cancer is out in the open, the better off women are,”Jones said. “It’s nothing to hide and be ashamed of.”

She has a studio on Rainbow Drive in Frederiksted and is usually set up at Mango Melee at St. George Village Botanical Garden and the Starving Artist events at Whim Museum.

The show at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts on Strand Street is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, by appointment and when cruise ships are in port.

“What a fabulous exhibit … Broadway, Hollywood ..,” said Elisa McKay, a well known local artist, about the opening of Jones’ show. “I’m so happy for Yemaya. I’ve known her since we both arrived on St. Croix in August 1978. She’s a winner!”