Meet the Scholars and Artists in Residence

Born in Whitwell, Tennessee, Dana Jo Cooley is a contemporary artist and theologian. She is a presidential scholarship recipient and graduate of the Savannah College of Art & Design. Dana Jo holds a Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt University with a certification in Religion in the Arts and Contemporary Culture where she received a Creative Merit Scholarship. She served as President of Poiesis at Vanderbilt Divinity and remains Poiesis Alumni Ambassador. Dana Jo is an Artist in Residence at the Downtown Presbyterian Church Artist Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. 

 Dana Jo’s work spans a variety of media and formats, including miniatures, sculpture, installation, performance, music, and public art. She is represented by Linda Matney Gallery. In 2022, Dana Jo created site-specific works in collaboration with Durkan’s Artlifting Project for Mohawk Industries in Las Vegas, Chicago, and New York City. The team was awarded Best of BDNY for Abstract Artistry. 

Brooklyn Heights Community Garden

Founder of the Brooklyn Heights Community Garden

 Mission: to aid the children and families in our community learn about nutrition and foster healthy eating,  build self esteem and cultivate team building skills.

Nella Pearl Frierson, affectionately known as “Ms. Pearl”, is a native Nashvillian. The sixth of ten siblings, Ms. Pearl learned the craft of hair braiding from her mother at the tender age of seven.  In 1989, she received her cosmetology license from Nashville Area Vocational School. After five daughters and many years of living in public housing, Ms. Pearl, through MDHA’s Working Smart program, was able to open her own business, Pearl’s Pearl Braid Shop, in 1993. She continued to participate in the Working Smart program in different capacities – as judge, dancer, keynote speaker, member of the board of directors, and recruiter – for at least ten years.  In 1995, she entered MDHA’s home ownership training and lease purchase program and soon realized the dream of home ownership.  

 In 1999, Ms. Pearl, who is also a talented writer and poet, formed the poetic quartet known on the Nashville poetry scene as “Relativ”.  Relativ has performed at local schools, churches, universities, prisons, weddings, graduations, funerals, Tennessee Performing Arts Center, and Memphis State University. They were named Poets of the Year by Rage magazine.  They also did fundraising benefits for The American Stroke Association as well as other charities.

Ms. Pearl was awarded the Emerging Business Award at the Dr. R.H. Boyd Minority Business Achievement Awards Gala in 1999.  In 2000 she was nominated for the Nashville Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners “Woman Business Owner of the Year” and recognized as one of the top women business owners in Middle Tennessee.  As a motivational speaker, she has shared her profession and entrepreneurial wisdom at many Nashville area schools.  She served as Assistant Girl Scout Leader at Napier Community Center for several years.  

For over fifteen years, she has assisted EarthMatters Tennessee in their Green Neighborhoods Project as a talent and youth coordinator.  She has performed her poetry as well as dramatic presentations at many EarthMatters events, participated in their educational video, and continues to be a talent and youth coordinator for special projects.  From 1995 to 1997, she volunteered at Napier Family Resource Center as an active member of its Advisory Council and was also responsible for planning and implementing their community Health Fair.  From 1996 to 2002, she worked with the African American Cultural Alliance presenting fashion and hair shows at the Annual African Street Festival, and was featured on News Channel 5’s “Talk of the Town” supporting AACA’s African Street Festival.  She completed the San Francisco Marathon (a 26.2 mile event) on July 14, 1997 as part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program, raising over $3,000 for the Society’s mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

As a poet and speaker, she has participated in numerous prison program.  She has worked with Nashville’s Amun Ra Theatre and has also won third place in the theatre company’s playwriting contest.  In 1998, she gave an entrepreneurship education presentation at the 16th Annual Entrepreneurship Education FORUM at Ohio State University’s Center on Education and Training for Employment.  From 1998 to 2002, she volunteered in Shears United program at Nashville CARES providing HIV/AIDS information, distributing safer sex kits for the adult community, and each year participating in the annual AIDS WALK.  She has been affiliated with The Village Cultural Arts Center, Inc. since it’s inception in 1995 and has been a participant and performer in The Village Drum and Dance Ensemble for over fifteen years.  She has mentored many children in the J.C. Napier Homes, a Nashville public housing project. She mentored some of these children in entrepreneurship.

 With the help of Nashville Food Advocates, family, neighbors, and friends, Ms. Pearl birthed Brooklyn Heights Community Garden in 2011.  The creation of this garden stemmed from a deep need for the community to get back to its roots of connection between the senior citizens and the youth to rebuild and reconstruct self-awareness, self-pride, and self-esteem.  In addition to providing team building opportunities, the garden ultimately promotes the teaching of sustainability and healthy living and the nurturing of plants and human beings.

 Ms. Pearl is the proud mother of five uniquely gifted daughters – Latashia Anderson, Latrishia Milton, Iru Madkins, Iyen Frierson, and Cekina Frierson.  She surrounds herself with family, particularly children and elders, and always has positive and constructive words to offer to those who need them. 

Frierson has has received a commission from Vanderbilt University to write a book on her founding of the Brooklyn Heights Community Garden. 

“I’ll tell anyone not to let being poor or afraid stop you from reaching your dream.  Strive

for success through putting structure into your life.” ~Nella Pearl Frierson

“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you must. Get busy!”

​~Nella Pearl Frierson