Art is a family affair for Upstate artists Miriam Tucker Jones and her daughter, Tipton Jones-Boiter, who will have a joint exhibition, “Waking the Unseen,” July 29 through Aug. 23 in Gallery III of the Artists Collective | Spartanburg.
An artist’s reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, as part of Spartanburg ArtWalk. The reception and exhibition viewing are free and open to the public.
The show is Jones-Boiter’s second exhibition of surrealist paintings based on her dreams while her mother’s works will be of “people and creatures that fall under mythological … but only if you don’t believe,” says Jones-Boiter.
The message of the works will be “don’t be afraid to question the norm and think outside of the box,” she adds.
Jones-Boiter says the inspiration of the joint exhibit was her decision to paint her dreams again. “The last show I did was 11 years ago. I’ve had so many more dreams since then.”
Tucker Jones, who also enjoys surrealism, decided “the magic of myth would be relatable to a wide audience.”
Both hope the viewers will feel as if they’ve stepped into another reality. “We hope it encourages you to look at things through a slightly different lens and embrace the weird,” Jones-Boiter says.
A native of Greer, South Carolina, Jones-Boiter says growing up in a “very artistic family” shaped her creative side, exhibiting with both her mother and father, Barry Jones.
Jones-Boiter, a visual artist and a 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.”
She 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.
Tucker Jones, a Greer native and a retired surgical technologist at Greer Memorial Hospital, 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.
Both Jones-Boiter and Tucker Jones were members of the Artists Collective | Spartanburg more than a decade ago and rejoined in 2024.
“We love the community at Artists Collective,” Jones-Boiter says. “It’s a very welcoming and inclusive collective dedicated to sharing creative expression.”