Since March 2006, Morris Whiteside Galleries on Hilton Head Island, SC, has been one of our biggest supporters, without asking too much in return. But that’s going to change with our new online version of Carolina Arts.
The gallery doesn’t usually host the kind of exhibits we have normally featured in our paper – with a set beginning and ending date, but that was a requirement of our printed version of the paper. That’s all changed now.
In our first issue of the new online Carolina Arts (Jan. 2011) you will find their full-page ad on Page 2. We moved it up to Page 2 from being on the back cover – as there is really no back cover any more.
The ad features a show of small works by Jonathan Green, a show that started in December.
For a long time Green was an artist who was born and raised in South Carolina, but lived in Florida. When his works were being exhibited somewhere in South Carolina, he would come, but then return to Florida. A few years ago he decided to return to SC and moved to the Charleston area. Now, he is a fixture of the Carolina art community in a big way.
Besides being a very active member of the art community, Green donated works help raise needed funds for organizations like the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in Charlotte, NC, or the Avery Research Center For African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC.
A few years back Green’s paintings were used as the basis for the project, “Off the Wall & Onto the Stage, Dancing the Art of Jonathan Green” produced by the Columbia City Ballet of Columbia, SC. And, in 2010, Green was given the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Awards for the Arts, SC’s highest art award, for Lifetime Achievement.
But, if you’re not up on Green’s history, here’s some info to get you up to speed.
Jonathan Green, painter and printmaker, was born and raised in the small Gullah community of Gardens Corner located near the South Carolina Sea Islands. Green’s early life was greatly influenced by his grandmother who relied heavily on oral traditions to instill in him the values and traditions of his African and African-American heritage. The customs and mores internalized by Green stressed the importance of the work ethic and a commitment to community values with a respect for the dignity and integrity of others. He is one of the first known artists of Gullah heritage to receive formal training at a professional art school, The Art Institute of Chicago, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1982.
While his appeal and perspective are truly modern and cosmopolitan, Green looks to the familiar images of his ancestral home for the subjects of his paintings. In his art Green draws upon his own intimate personal experiences, steeped in the traditions of family, community and life in the Southern United States. Each of his paintings is a testament to the motivating power of place, capturing the continuity of the past combined with the energy, exuberance and creativity of the present.
As a result of his tremendous and prolific talent, Green’s work has been embraced by collectors and critics throughout the world. His paintings can be found in major museum collections in California, Florida, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Japan, Germany and Sierra Leone. In 1996, Green received an honorary doctorate from the University of South Carolina, the same year a book, Gullah Images: The Art of Jonathan Green, reproducing a large number of his pieces, was published.
For further information about Jonathan Green and the works being offered at Morris Whiteside Galleries, call 843/842-4433 or visit (www.morris-whiteside.com).
