About Jim Booth Legacy Art
Based in Charleston, S.C., Jim Booth Legacy Art is a second-generation art business focused on donating and selling Jim Booth art, with net proceeds benefiting non-profit organizations. A self-taught artist and businessman, Jim Booth (1945-2021) was well-known for his ability to capture the beauty of the South Carolina Lowcountry in his paintings. His eldest daughter, Tracey Booth Owens, established Jim Booth Legacy Art to honor and share her father’s artwork as a way to give back to the community that inspired and supported it.
There are three main ways we are giving back to the community:
Sharing Art
Limited edition prints and open edition posters are available as well. We are collaborating with other shops and galleries interested in selling Jim’s work, with net proceeds going to support non-profit organizations.
We also donate artwork directly to non-profit organizations that demonstrate a respect for and commitment to the proper handling of the art and to the preservation of its collector value.
If your business or non-profit organization is interested in representing Jim’s art, please Contact Me for more information about our selective criteria and process.
Sharing Gifts
All net proceeds from sales of original paintings, art prints, and posters will be donated to non-profit organizations.
Sharing Connections
Jim emphasized that the goal of his life’s work was to connect people through art. Do you have a connection to one or more of his paintings you’d like to share? Be a part of Jim’s legacy by sharing your connection to his work with the community. We will share these connections on our Shared Connections page.
About Our Partners
Featured Partners
For upcoming events related to these partnerships, please visit our News & Events page and subscribe to our newsletter!
If you are interested in becoming a partner organization, please Contact Me.
The mission of the FCNP is "to support the preservation, enhancement, and education of Charleston's National Parks by funding programs and projects that protect their cultural, historic, and natural resources." The FCNP strives to "bridge the gap left by government funding, ensuring these treasured parks remain vibrant for future generations to experience and enjoy." This partnership will help raise funds for FCNP programs and initiatives with paintings featuring two National Park sites:
Original painting of Fort Sumter.
Original painting of The Charleston Light, Sullivan's Island Light.
The mission of the EIOLT is "to preserve the rural quality of life on Edisto by protecting lands, waterways, scenic vistas, and heritage through conservation and education." Our partnership will help raise funds for this mission using the original painting Botany Bay Road.
Jim was a founding member of this organization whose mission is "to restore, preserve and celebrate the Morris Island Lighthouse for future generations." Jim's painting First Light helped raise funds for the initial purchase of the Morris Island Lighthouse to begin stabilization efforts. Special edition prints of First Light and Carolina Legacy are available for Save the Light fundraisers. Funds from the sale of the original painting Carolina Legacy will be donated to Save the Light, Inc.
Ongoing and Past Partnerships:
Jim donated prints to this organization for over thirty years, and Jim Booth Legacy Art is proud to continue contributing prints to their fundraisers. From elegant wildlife balls to immersive sporting classics, the Harry Hampton Fund’s events weave together conservation, community and exciting experiences. Public education in the principles of wildlife and marine resources management and conservation is a major thrust of the fund’s purpose, a priority to meet the growing need for better-informed caretakers of our resources in this age of increased urbanization and technology. Other educations goals include: to survey and acquire knowledge of fish and game in South Carolina; to hold property in common for educational purposes; to assist interested individuals, such as writers and students, who contribute to an understanding of wildlife and marine resources management; and to educate and train individuals in fish, wildlife and marine resources management and law enforcement.
In 2022, Tracey Booth Owens began interacting with the well-recognized Arts in Healing program at MUSC. After in-depth discussions about the healing value of art and the reputation of Jim Booth’s work, Tracey offered her father’s artwork for display at Hollings Cancer Center on the MUSC campus.
Following the review and approval of the MUSC Health Arts Committee, 50 images were selected. A donor funded the framing, and in 2022 Jim’s work went on display in patient exam rooms there. The hope was that the familiarity of Jim’s art and its comforting scenes could help anxious patients redirect their focus to a calmer state-of- mind.
In the early 1980s, Jim and his family enjoyed many days at the nearby James Island Yacht Club, fishing and shrimping from the pier, watching boats head offshore to fish, launching their own boats to take in more of the Lowcountry, and visiting with friends. The location served as inspiration for many of Jim’s paintings.
In 2023, on a site tour, Tracey spoke with club members and became reacquainted with the club. The club is still home to many native Charlestonians, including Jim’s youngest brother, and hosts several events throughout the year, including a large sailing regatta for youth. As a local non-profit with a connection to her father, Tracey deemed it would be a good fit for an art donation. Six framed reproductions now hang in the clubhouse, reflecting and sharing the beauty of that special waterside spot, which the artist treasured.
About Jim Booth, Artist (1945-2021)
Jim Booth was one of the most prolific artists of the Southeast, with a career spanning almost 50 years. His paintings, which reflect the power, peace, joy, and beauty of the Carolina Lowcountry in meticulous detail, reach out to the innate beauty within each person’s mind. Guided by an inner “beacon,” he was an artist committed to connecting his community of collectors with the beauty of life in the Lowcountry.
Jim was born at the Navy Yard in North Charleston, S.C., and lived in the Charleston area until his family moved to North Augusta, S.C., when he was 10. Upon returning to Charleston, he attended James Island High School, graduating in 1963.
Jim went on to attend Clemson University, where he spent his first three years majoring in architecture. After taking a required art course, he found his calling as an artist, but shortly thereafter his country called. He joined the joined the Marine Corps in 1967 and was sent to Vietnam in 1970, where he served in combat.
When he returned home, he married Virginia McDonnell of New Orleans, La., and began working as a professional artist, finding inspiration at his home on Folly Beach. For almost a year, he participated in a series of art shows in New England, gaining additional painting and business experience. Once back in Charleston, he committed to work for the Ambassador Art Gallery, which represented his work around the world and published several of his paintings between 1972 and 1976.
About Tracey Booth Owens, Daughter and Steward of Jim Booth’s Legacy and Art
I am honored to have the opportunity and responsibility to steward my parents’ legacy. They instilled in me a spirit of curiosity, wonder, awe and joy, connecting me deeply to our Lowcountry home. This connection to the Lowcountry is what my Dad’s art reflects – his paintings are about seeking and discovering the beauty and goodness that surrounds us.
I am inspired to bring together the art and our shared Lowcountry experiences to bridge community connections. In our collective appreciation of the art and the Lowcountry, we make beauty commonplace again and show the world what is good.
I am also moved to use the art in my collection to keep doing good for the community that inspired it. Building upon the model of donating prints to non-profit organizations that my parents established in the 1980’s, I am now donating both prints and net profits from all art sales, including those of original paintings, and creating new non-profit partnerships. I look forward to sharing my parent’s legacy to illuminate, connect and steward the beauty of life in the Lowcountry.
My Dad shared one of his secrets to life: if you find work that you enjoy, you will never work a day in your life! He was right – being a part of the family art business has never felt like work! While working at the gallery, I earned my Master’s degree in Library and Information Science, then moved to St. Simons Island, GA, where I was a full-time mom to the most amazing two children, Virginia Anne and Whitmarsh. While they were in school, I enjoyed working professionally as an independent information consultant and volunteering as a Board of Trustees member of their school. In my spare time I trained for and completed three marathons and many other races and enjoyed researching and earning memberships in several genealogical societies including the Daughters of the American Revolution. I currently split my time between Virginia and Edisto Island, enjoying adventures with my husband Kent and our two dogs.