John Jones Art Gallery

Born May 11, 1950 in Columbia, S.C. Jones has been a freelance artist and illustrator for more than 25 years. His former clients include Time Life Books, IBM, Westinghouse, Rubbermaid, NASA, Gadded Space and Flight Center, and the U.S. Postal Service. Jones explores life through art. This multi-talented artist uses oils, acrylics and watercolors for his painting. Striving for detail in light and reflection, he meticulously draws each painting first, and then layers it with color, resulting in very realistic interpretations of everyday life and landscapes, as well as historical insights into our past. Jones’ goal is to paint the African American experience starting with the slave trade in Africa, through the Middle Passage and pre-civil war era, and contrast it with African Americans today. Mr. Jones is the artist and author of the book and traveling exhibition, Confederate Currency: The Color of Money, Images of Slavery in Confederate and Southern States Currency.

In addition to the “Confederate Currency: The color of Money” series, he has painted a series on the Buffalo Soldiers, the 54^th Massachusetts regiment and African Americans in the Military. He is currently working on a project that puts focus on the everyday lives of the Gullah people and the struggles and issues they face in trying to sustain their culture in modern day America.