Six new 2024 members of the Artists Collective | Spartanburg will participate in the “New Member Exhibit: In the Woods … From the Earth” Jan. 7 through Feb. 1, 2025, in ACS’s Gallery II and Gallery III.
An artists’ reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, as part of Spartanburg ArtWalk. The reception and exhibition viewing are free and open to the public. The artwork in the show will be offered for purchase.
“The Artists Collective | Spartanburg is a welcoming and collaborative environment that inspires creativity for its members and visitors alike,” says Cassandra Stephens-Johnson, who is coordinating the exhibit. “We look forward to visitors seeing the beautiful and varied works by these talented new ACS members.”
The participating artists will be Darryl Jones, Garry Turpin, Tipton Jones-Boiter, Mariam Tucker-Jones, Karina Manukyan and Christine Blackburn
Darryl Jones, a woodturner, says he seldom has a plan for his creations. Describing a piece that will be exhibited in the show, he says he worked on it multiple times, not satisfied each time he added or changed the piece. “This piece describes who I am as a creator because I very seldom have a plan,” he says. “I would have to almost describe the piece in reverse, from the end to the beginning, because I generally don’t have a plan and let the piece become what it’s going to be.”
An “IT guy” by profession, Jones was inspired to do woodworking by a history teacher’s collection of flutes the teacher had made. “I feel like I kind of came in the back door because I didn’t know there was a whole woodturning community,” he says. “I just kind of stumbled into it. The same thing happened with the art side. I kind of feel like I fell into it backward because I had already been creating the art. When I make a piece, I like to leave natural elements, such as a bark edge or the range of colors that you find around rot and different types of inclusions in the wood. I like to leave those in to celebrate the fact that it is a natural material with imperfections.”
Garry Turpin, a native of Sylva, North Carolina, who grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, has worked for printing companies as prep foreman, magazine publishers as art director and started GT Graphic Studios in the mid 1980s. He managed the company until 2000, when he closed the company, and he started oil painting full time. He helped establish two cooperative art studios – the Artists Collective | Spartanburg and the Artist Guild Gallery in Greenville. Both continue as thriving organizations.
Of his paintings, Turpin says, “I try to give the best rendition of what I see; to let the viewer understand why I painted a particular view in a landscape or expression in a person, place or thing. Painting water and the elements around it is always exciting. The blend of colors in a fall leaf, movement in the clouds, dogs running, people walking on the beach. Inspiration is everywhere you look.”
He adds that he carries a camera “when I’m hungry to paint. I look for compositions that are visually interesting or information driven. In many instances, my paintings are time travelers for me, in that they’ll take me back to the time and place where the image first caught my eye and the joy of the site or person that I have rendered hopefully will be captured by the viewer in a similar or different way, kind of paying it forward.”
Tipton Jones-Boiter, a native of Greer, South Carolina, says growing up in a “very artistic family” shaped her creative side. The visual artist and songwriter adds, “I believe we can communicate emotions through art and music that cannot easily be communicated through words alone. I lean more towards the abstract and surreal. I believe I provide pieces, but how those pieces form meaning is up to the viewer or listener.”
Jones-Boiter has been painting professionally for 30 years, starting at 16 as a muralist and faux finisher, then shifting to portraits of people and pets. She prefers using acrylics on canvas and coffee on paper. Through the Anchor Bat Co., she has painted what she calls “mini murals” on baseball bats for the actor Bill Murray, the Greenville Drive, the U.S. Marines and The Citadel. She’s currently a member of and has an art studio at the Artists Collective.
Karina Manukyan’s mother was an archeologist, so she grew up surrounded by replicas of ancient pottery at home. “Every time we went to a history museum, I would get a lecture on all the knowledge you can get from ceramic remains,” she says, admitting she may not have paid enough attention at the time. “By a stroke of fate, I started getting interested in historic pottery a couple of years ago. I have always been drawn to expressing myself through visual means, and photography has been my passion for a long time, but after moving to the U.S., my spark for it had greatly diminished. That eventually led me to take my first pottery class.”
After taking a hand-building course, she knew she had “found something I deeply connected with. The tactile sensation as you handle the clay while the pot emerges underneath your fingertips is a truly magical experience. Since then, I have been experimenting with different shapes and techniques in the search for my voice as a ceramic artist.”
Manukyan, a native of Sofia, Bulgaria who moved to the United States in 2015, creates “a combination of functional and decorative pieces, aiming to create either playful or stand-out pieces, whether it’s something you put on a shelf, or it is something you eat out of. I am a firm believer that everyday objects can be art. I draw inspiration from ancient pottery and organic shapes with a more contemporary look. The main techniques I use are coil-and-pinch and slab-building.”
Miriam Tucker-Jones, a Spartanburg native and a retired surgical technologist at Spartanburg Medical Center, has been drawing “since I could hold a crayon or a pencil,” and took her first oil painting class at 16. “The smell of the oil paint and turpentine were intoxicating,” though now her works are mainly in acrylic and watercolor.
Art is a family affair, with daughter Tipton Jones-Boiter also participating in the New Member Exhibit and the two along with Miriam’s husband, Barry, have exhibited together at Carri Bass Photography and Art Studio in Tryon, North Carolina.
As a jewelry artist Christine Blackburn says, “I am driven by a passion for crafting pieces that evoke a sense of wonder and joy in those who wear them. My work is a celebration of the unique beauty found in minimalism and geometric forms. Each piece is meticulously designed to harmonize with the wearer’s individuality while embodying a timeless elegance.”
Blackburn specializes in crafting sterling silver jewelry, drawing inspiration from “nature and the beauty that surrounds us. Inspired by the inherent beauty of simplicity, my designs embrace clean lines and subtle curves, reflecting a modern aesthetic that transcends fleeting trends. Every angle and detail are carefully considered to achieve a perfect balance between aesthetics and wearability.
“My greatest joy as an artist comes from knowing that my creations bring happiness to people’s lives,” she continues.