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Jonathan Green was born in Gardens Corner South Carolina in 1955

He lived in New York for a short time but moved back to SC before he was a teenager

He was raised by his grandmother Eloise Stewart Johnson. Who introduced him to his Gullah culture.

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Jonathan went to Beaufort high school where his interest in art started

Not believing he could go to school for art and make a living, he joined the air force

Eventually he ended up in a school in Minnesota near where he was stationed and studied art

Eventually with encouragement from his teachers he went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he got his art degree

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Though Green's early paintings showed the influence of cubist artists such as Pablo Picasso, he later moved toward a style emphasizing flat color fields

The majority of Green's works include human figures often wearing either white or brightly colored and patterned dresses billowing in the wind

Green also uses color, texture,  and pattern to bring his famous nature scene backgrounds to life

The skin tones of the men and women he paints are also very famous for their beautiful depth and diversity

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Green was the first individual of Gullah ancestry to train at a professional art school

His work has been displayed in the permanent collections of many museums across the country and world

The University of South Carolina awarded him a Doctorate of fine arts degree

A ballet called "Off the Wall and Onto the Stage: Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green"  based on his work was exhibited by the Columbia city ballet in 2005

He has received many humanitarian awards, illustrated five children's books, and been on the cover of over ten book

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Green is inspired by many things, but his primary inspiration is most definitely his Gullah culture that he learned from his grandmother. The fact that the slaves who curated the Gullah culture were torn away from their families and denied knowledge of their own history inspires Green to preserve his history and culture through art for present and future generations. He does this by painting scenes of chores and daily life like men fishing, women doing laundry, and family or religious gatherings. By showing these things he is preserving age old cultural traditions and keeping them from disappearing with the deaths of some of the elders of the Gullah community.

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"The older people were dying, and I began to see [the Gullahs] differently. I saw them as a people with a strong link, probably the strongest link with Africa of any of the black American people. I had studied African Art, and I began to appreciate a certain uniqueness."

"I was always interested in things, in how crafts were done, who everyone's relatives were and the religious functions of the community."

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"I wanted to go back to my roots."

"I am drawn to rural environments that afford a sense of space and silence and an opportunity to unobtrusively observe daily functions of others as we all pursue life's mission of work, love and belonging.... It is the small, but critical tasks of daily life that I find most stimulating and reflective of the quality of essential, personal, community, and social values."

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“Jonathan Green | The HistoryMakers.” Martin Kilson | The HistoryMakers, www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/jonathan-green-41.

"Jonathan Green." Contemporary Black Biography, vol. 54, Gale, 2006. Biography In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1606003240/BIC?u=scschools&sid=BIC&xid=6e9fc21b. Accessed 5 Oct. 2018.

“Jonathan Green.” About This Page, polisci.usca.edu/aasc/greenjon.htm.

“Jonathan Green.” About This Page, polisci.usca.edu/aasc/greenjon.htm.

Rose Brown, Martha. “‘Trying to Make a Difference’: Jonathan Green Talks about Importance of Agriculture, Artistry, African American Contributions.” Times and Democrat, The (Orangeburg, SC), 6 May 2018. EBSCOhost, scsl.idm.oclc.org/login?auth=discus&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=2W62535775823&site=eds-live&scope=site.