• Editor’s Perspective: Renewing Life
• Contemporary Artist-Entrepreneur: Ted Ellis, Monetizing Art for Success
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Editor’s Perspective: Renewing Life
Rapidly approaching retirement age, it occurs to me it would be great if at birth we had an expiration date discreetly stamped on our body. This would eliminate the angst about when to walk away from the rat race.
Do you retire at 62 and begin receiving social security benefits, but take a penalty? Or, do you hang on to the job hoping you don’t conk out before you do retire?
The majority of my life has been spent answering to someone else, so it will be nice to finally dance to my own tune.
One thing’s for sure, it is comforting to know I can call it quits whenever I’m ready to renew my life.
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For those of you in the D.C. Metro Area, I have a solo exhibit at the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) through the month of March. WSSC is located at 14501 Sweitzer Lane, Laurel, Maryland 20707. For more information call 301-206-9772 or 800-828-6439. Here’s a link to an article about the exhibit featured in the Prince George’s Sentinel…http://www.thesentinel.com/pgs/entertainment/Artist-Jenne-Glover.
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A few months ago, I was invited to participate in The Washington Project Deck of Cards sponsored by http://www.artinhandcards.com/. Fifty-four artists were selected to create a card and the Queen of Diamonds is my contribution to the deck. She is surrounded by symbols of four key elements in D.C.’s culture – politics, education, art, and religion. The Washington Project Deck of Cards is scheduled for release in April 2011 and will be available on my website as well as at different gift shops.
Queen of Diamonds
mixed media 16”x12”
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Super O is featured in the 2011 commemorative book A TIME. A SEASON.
A Visual Tribute to Oprah Winfrey. The foreword is written by Faith Ringgold and the book features 63 African-American artists. The book was developed by BlackArtinAmerica.com and printed by Blurp.com. You can preview at https://www.jenneglover.com/go/oprahbook/. Super O is on page 55.
Super O
mixed media 37”x28”
Peace!
P.S.
My new email address is jenneglover@gmail.com.
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Contemporary Artist: Ted Ellis, Monetizing Art for Success
Tedism is…
Folk
Impressionism
with Soul!
Ted and I first met several years ago when we were participating in an art auction held at Prince George’s Community College. Recently, we crossed paths at a collector’s show held in Washington, D.C. He’s an exhilarating, positive life-force, an artist-entrepreneur.
Interviewing Ted was like spinning in the eye of a tornado, his thoughts flowing faster then my brain can communicate to my pen. Yet, this was an easy interview because all I had to do was listen and seek clarification. Ted is a prolific painter with a lot on his mind and a lot to say.
He considers himself a creative historian and his art work depicts and celebrates African-American culture and history. He believes artists are important to society because we dare to dream; and have the ability to heal and give hope.
He’s coined “Tedism” to describe his art style — a blend of folk, impressionism, and soul. He believes doing art is his divine purpose and he feels good things come your way when you are following your passion.
His love for the arts is rooted in the rich culture of New Orleans where expressing your creativity is firmly entrenched in the culture. As a child he loved sketching, doodling, and tracing his favorite comic strips characters. And, he and his friends spent their spare time competing with one another to draw the best designs.
He says New Orleans was like an incubator nurturing young talent. There were opportunities to participate in art clubs, design murals for school, and create signs for special events. Ted took art classes, participated in summer art programs, and frequently visited Jackson Square to watch and talk to local artists who were there creating their art in various mediums. Doing art was fun and feeling supported by his community fostered his development.
Colored Man
Edition 950 22″x33″
Taking his art to market as a medium of exchange has been a driving force throughout his career. Ted’s entrepreneurial spirit was ignited in high school when he and his classmates sold their custom designed t- shirts to the juniors and seniors at their high school and eventually branched out to sell them throughout their district.
Ted is a shrewd, businessman who’s making his passion for art work for him. He’s been a full-time working artist for twenty years and working without a safety net pushes him to find ways to expose his art to the masses. He goes on fact finding missions to find support. This may take him to art festivals, conventions, reunions, libraries, or the neighborhood beauty and barber shops. He explains if an artist doesn’t have academic connections then they must find other venues to sustain themselves; and creating awareness and value for your art starts in your community.
In 1991, Ted founded T. Ellis Art, Incorporated and since then he has been on the leading edge of fine art publishing and products. He’s sold over 1,750,000 fine art products nationwide through direct sales, to galleries, catalog outlets, fine art dealers, and licensing. He’s developed partnership opportunities to educate and empower communities by offering maximum returns on minimal investments.
Ted has established affiliations with major corporations including Walt Disney Studios, Minute Maid, Coca Cola, Marathon Oil, ExxonMobile, State Farm, Merck Pharmaceutical, JC Penney, Southland Corporation, and Avon Products, Inc.
Women of Gee’s Bend
Acrylic 30”x40”
Over the years, Ted has banded together with other artists to build a business model. Done informally, via phone or face-to-face, they share strategies, compare notes, and exchange information regarding best and worst places to exhibit. This is a unique arrangement because typically artists don’t want to share information because the market is so small.
Ted acknowledges, getting to market is an arduous task. You create the art, frame it, purchase a booth, promote the event, pack up and travel to the location, unpack, set up the booth, sell as much as you can, pack up when the show closes, travel back to your base of operation, and unpack. It’s labor intensive and time-consuming, and all of this must be done from a position of strength, because you’ve got to make the effort pay off.
Ted realizes celebrating African-American visual arts is 100 years young. He feels the community needs to step up because they are not supporting or creating value for visual artists at any level whether they are emerging, mid-career, or beyond. He sees plenty of attention being paid to Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett, and others from their era, but no one is paying attention to the next generation.
Fishing in the Creek
Acrylic 18”x14”
Ted thinks African-American artists have some major climbing to do to get recognized by the mainstream and financially we are lagging behind. He believes our generation of artists is the most productive and business savvy, but no one is crediting any contemporary artist, with 15-20 years under their belt, as a major influence. He doesn’t think academia is providing credibility by documenting how an artist is impacting the community, and no one is creating value by writing about contemporary artists. (He’s pleased with what Voicing Art is doing.) He wants to know where are the academic essays? Is the Schomburg documenting this generation? Where’s the data from art historians and curators?
Ted believes there are important issues to be addressed for the next generation of artists to thrive. We need to identify how to influence and impact our community and the masses? How do we make the business model more efficient and effective? How do you get the internet to work for you? We must understand and leverage the full impact artists are making politically, socially, culturally, educationally, and economically.
A Time to Heal
Edition 950 18″x24″
Ted feels his background as a chemist provides him with the critical skills needed to navigate in the arts arena. He is trained to analyze, observe, and draw conclusions. He’s paying attention to the facts, and if one venture doesn’t work he makes adjustments to get a better outcome. For instance, what’s the point of continuing to exhibit at a convention with more exhibitors present than collectors?
Some of his accolades include being selected art ambassador in 2010 for the New Orleans African American Museum and being named a historical artist by the Amistad Research Center in 2005. His paintings are in the permanent collections of the New Orleans African American Museum, LA; McKenna Museum of African American Art, New Orleans, LA; Free People of Color Museum, New Orleans, LA; Amistad Research Center Collection, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA; DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, IL; George Washington Carver Museum, Austin, TX; Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, AL; and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI.
Next
Acrylic 24″x36″
His television and movie credits include the Barney Show, Soul Food, and Daddy’s Little Girls. Ted’s been featured on local and regional television programs and in news articles. He’s also been featured in Newsweek, Upscale Magazine, Southern Living Magazine, Journal of the National Medical Association, Classmagazine, and 1-10 Media. His art is on the cover of CD’s and several books including Harlem Renaissance, Go Down Old Hannah, We Dance Alone, the Art of Cooking, Recipe Masterpieces, and Tom Joyner Presents How to Prepare for College.
Staying connected to the community, Ted’s schedule includes the Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage Cruise March 20-28, the New Orleans Jazz Festival April 29 to May 8, and in September he’s returning to the Congressional Black Caucus Convention in Washington, D.C. Ted also sells his art at doctors’ and lawyers’ conventions, he participates in private collector shows, and even though his
commissioned work is providing him a good cushion, when he’s home, he calls his patrons to talk about new pieces he’s completed.
Ted Ellis is based in Houston, Texas. For more information, you can reach him at 1-800-222-3310; see more of his art at http://www.tellisfineart.com/.
