The Woman Behind Bean Backus Became One of Jupiter’s Florida Painters

Have you seen a Jackie Brice painting? There’s a good chance longtime Jupiter residents have crossed paths with her work—or perhaps even have one hanging at home.

Look closely at this photograph from around 1980.

A.E. “Bean” Backus is hard to miss.

Glasses perched on his face, the celebrated Florida landscape painter fills the foreground, apparently absorbed in whatever is in front of him.

But look just over his shoulder.

The woman watching alongside him is Jackie Brice.

At the time, she was Backus’ painting student.

She would eventually become a well-known Florida landscape painter herself, make Jupiter her home, paint the Loxahatchee River—and attract a few famous collectors along the way.

Eleven years learning from Bean

Brice was a native Floridian who began painting in the 1960s. She studied first with Miami artist Vela Boss and then spent 11 years studying with Backus, who became both a mentor and friend.

Backus was already an important figure in Florida art.

Born in Fort Pierce in 1906, he became celebrated for his luminous paintings of the Florida landscape. He was also known for encouraging and teaching other artists, most famously including Alfred Hair, whose story became intertwined with that of the Florida Highwaymen.

Brice was part of that circle of students.

She later recalled making the long drive from Miami to Fort Pierce once a week to study with Backus. Eventually, she moved to Jupiter.

And the Florida landscape around her became the subject of her life's work.

Painting a Florida that was disappearing

Brice wasn't interested in painting Florida from photographs in an air-conditioned studio.

She went outside.

She painted rivers, wetlands, palms, backcountry and wilderness, believing that an artist needed to actually experience a landscape to understand it.

That occasionally meant dealing with some very Florida distractions—including alligators.

As development transformed South Florida, Brice's paintings also became a record of places that were changing or disappearing.

The Loxahatchee River was one of those places.

A television crew once followed Brice for two days as she painted along the Loxahatchee, documenting both her work and its connection to efforts to preserve the river.

And Jupiter eventually gave one of those paintings a special place in the town's history.

When Jupiter celebrated its 75th birthday, Brice's painting Loxahatchee River was selected for the cover of the second printing of The Loxahatchee Lament.

Her work is also represented in the Town of Jupiter's collection.

And then there was Burt

As Brice's reputation grew, so did the list of people interested in her work.

One name will be particularly familiar around Jupiter: Burt Reynolds.

Reynolds collected several of Brice's paintings over the years, and there's a wonderfully casual photograph of the two together in her studio, standing beside one of her Florida landscapes.

We're not reproducing that photograph here, but you can see it—and quite a collection of Brice's paintings and photographs—on Jackie Brice Paints Florida.

And Reynolds wasn't the only recognizable name.

Brice's biographical materials name President George H.W. Bush, Jack Nicklaus and James Brolin among collectors of her work. The Florida Department of State says her paintings have also been represented in collections including the White House, Florida House in Washington, Palm Beach County, the Town of Jupiter and Jupiter Medical Center.

Her portfolio was accepted into the archives of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Then, in 2012, Florida gave Brice one of the state's highest artistic honors: induction into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

Look at the photograph again

Knowing all of that makes the old photograph a little different.

At first glance, it's a picture of Bean Backus, the famous artist, with a student in the background.

But we know what happened next.

The student became the artist.

Brice spent decades putting her Florida on canvas—the hammocks, wetlands, rivers and wild landscapes she believed were worth noticing and preserving.

And some of the landscape she chose to preserve was right here in Jupiter.

So we'll end with a question for longtime locals:

Have you ever seen a Jackie Brice painting around Jupiter? Does your family own one? Did you ever meet Jackie or see her painting along the Loxahatchee?

If so, we'd genuinely love to hear the story.

Explore more: Jackie Brice Paints Florida

Photo: A.E. “Bean” Backus with painting student Jackie Brice, circa 1980. State Archives of Florida / Florida Memory, PR77686.