Reverend Johnnie Simmons grew up in a farming family in the historically Gullah community of Frogmore on St. Helena Island. Between himself, his parents, and his six brothers and sisters, there was always plenty of work to be done on the family farm. There was so much work to be done that Simmons ended up having to repeat three grades due to chronic non-attendance issues. In spite of this, Simmons graduated high school in 1969. That same year he would enlist in the U.S. Army and would serve in the Vietnam War until 1972. After his tour in Vietnam Simmons returned to the St. Helena area and worked a variety of jobs to support himself and his family. Most notably Simmons worked as a bus driver for the Beaufort County School System; later in life school bus imagery would feature prominently in his artwork. In addition to this Simmons began a longstanding career as a preacher and would continue to preach until his retirement in 2003.
In 2003 Simmons enrolled in a 6-week residential treatment program for post-traumatic stress sufferers in Salem, Virginia. While attending this program, Simmons would begin to draw and create art for the first time in arts and crafts workshops provided to patients. From here Simmons has gone on to develop a unique self-taught art practice. He draws his image in pencil on wood panel before burning it with a wood-burning tool and painting over the work with acrylics in vibrant color. His work is thematically rich and diverse, ranging from figural work to landscapes and vehicles. All of his work contains the overarching theme of the old traditions of the Gullah people, capturing a way of life that is under continuing threat in the face of development and change as time marches on in the Lowcountry.
