Ed Mell

Biography

Born in 1942, Ed Mell spent an idyllic childhood in what was then the small western city of Phoenix. He attended Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, and soon after graduation accepted a position in New York as an art director for a large advertising agency. Seeking greater artistic freedom, he opened an illustration studio and met with immediate success, establishing his national reputation. Still, he felt that he hadn't yet found his voice as an artist. Seeking a break from the city's pace, he accepted a teaching position the Hopi reservation in northern Arizona in 1970. Time spent on Arizona's Colorado Plateau reconnected Mell with the land he loved, and his artistic course was set. He relocated to Phoenix and began painting his well-known landscapes. Mell's creative drive has led him to produce bronze sculptures and print series in addition to his oils. Ed Mell's work is found in many public and private collections including those of Tri-Star Pictures, Phoenix Art Museum, Kartchner Caverns State Park, Diane Keaton, Arnold Schwartzenegger and Bruce Babbitt. Corporate Collections Atlantic-Richfield Corporation, Los Angeles, California Bank One, Phoenix, Arizona Loew's Ventana Canyon Resort, Tucson, Arizona Mountain Bell, Denver, Colorado Tri-Star Pictures, Hollywood, California U-Haul Corporation, Phoenix, Arizona Public Collections City of Glendale, Glendale, Arizona City of Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona Kartchner Caverns, Southern Arizona Private Collections Forbes Collection Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Babbitt, Washington, DC Craig & Barbara Barrett, Phoenix, Arizona Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Coors, Golden, Arizona Stephane Janssen, Scottsdale, Arizona Arnold Schwarzenegger, Los Angeles, California Diane Keaton, Beverly Hills, California Exhibitions 1982 Center of Modern Art, Guadalajara, Mexico 1983 Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach California 1984 The Nickolas Museum, Casper, Wyoming 1987 The Rockwell Museum, Corning, New York 1990, 1996 Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, Arizona 1988, 2000 Museum of the Southwest, Mesa, Arizona 1996, 2000 Kolb Studio, Grand Canyon, Arizona 2002 Phippen Museum, Prescott, Arizona 2003 Northern Arizona University Museum, Flagstaff, Arizona 2006-2007 Grand Canyon: From Dream to Icon, Tucson Museum of Art, AZ 2007 Arizona: A Millennium of Arizona Art, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ Books and Publications Beyond the Visible Terrain, The Art of Ed Mell, Northland Publishing The Majesty of the Grand Canyon Leading the West, Northland Publishing Southwest Art Magazine Arizona Highways Magazine Who's Who in American Art