About Jack Thames Sr.

     Jack Thames was blessed with a talent and love for art and driven with purpose in life that would distinguish him as a lifetime professional artist. He began early, perfecting his artistic skill by hand-painting neckties, decorating them with ducks and other wildlife for clothing merchants in the Charleston area. As a teenager he was withdrawn from Charleston High School and placed in Murray Vocational School to draw large replicas of vessels to assist the Navy Yard in the production of ships demanded by World War II. After the war he attended and graduated from the Atlanta School of Art where he supported himself and paid for his education by selling paintings in Piedmont Park on the weekends. Soon after receiving a degree in Commercial Art, he accepted the position of Art Director for a leading advertising agency and later opened J & J Art Service in Atlanta producing freelance commercial art for many national accounts such as Coca Cola, Delta Air Lines, and Regal Paper Company. In 1971, Jack returned to Charleston where he was self-employed as a commercial artist and later devoted full time to fine art. For the next 30 years Jack worked numerous art festivals across SC, GA, and NC. Locally he was a long time exhibitor at The Flowertown Festival and Spoleto. Jack's career consisted of many milestones including a commission for a series of paintings of Georgia's first Americans displayed at the Atlanta Capital Museum; creation of many iconic designs still seen on the packaging of Little Debbie, Mountain Dew and Hav-A-Tampa products, among others; the design of all stained glass windows and stations of the cross in St. Timothy's Episcopal Church located in Atlanta, GA; Co-founder and former Art Director of Charleston Magazine; Co-founder and former Art Director of The Lowcountry Sportsman Magazine; former Vice President of the Charleston Artist Guild; winner of numerous awards from art festivals across the Southeast; and publisher of two editions of the book Charleston and Lowcountry Paintings.