Ed Mell in his studio
Born in Phoenix Arizona 1942, Ed Mell spent his childhood in exposed to the plants, animals and landscape of his beloved Arizona. He was particularly interested in cars as a child and attended Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles where he focused on graphic art, soon after graduation he accepted a position as an art director in NYC for the at Kenyon and Echardt a large advertising agency.
Seeking greater artistic freedom from the corporate job, he left to work on illustration where he worked in airbrush to create artwork including covers for National Lamppon. Ed Mell and was met with immediate success, establishing his national reputation as an artist to watch. Illustration did not meet the creative outlet Ed Mell needed and was still looking for his own style, which he would soon find back in Arizona.
Ed Mell accepted a teaching position the Hopi reservation in 1970 and for two summers he was taught Hopi students what he had learned at the Art Center College of Design. These summers spent on Arizona’s Colorado Plateau reconnected Mell with the land he loved and it would not be long before he relocated back to his home town of Phoenix and began painting his well-known Southwest landscapes.
Ed Mell signing and numbering lithographs
Ed Mell’s work is found in numerous public and private collections including those of Tri-Star Pictures, Phoenix Art Museum, Kartchner Caverns State Park, Diane Keaton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark Sublette and Bruce Babbitt.
Ed Mell, San Rafael Longhorn , Oil on Linen
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
- Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, 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:
- 2018 Solo Show, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson ,AZ
- 2017 “25th Anniversary Celebration” Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
- 2016 Solo Show, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
- 2015 “Sculpture Retrospective and New Paintings” Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
- 2014 Solo Show, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
- 2012 – “Mell Modern,” Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
- September 10 – November 26, 2011 – The Forbes Collection, Forbes Galleries, New York City, NY
- October – November 2011, The West Select, Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
- 2011 Booth Museum of Western Art, Atlanta, GA
- 2010 Ed Mell, New Works, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
- 2010 Ed Mell: Paintings of the New West, Tucson Museum of Art, AZ
- 2010 The Rockwell Museum of Western Art, New York
- 2010 Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ
- 2009- Grand Canyon Modern Masters Invitational, Kolb Studio, Grand Canyon, AZ
- 2007 Arizona: A Millennium of Arizona Art, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, AZ
- 2006-2007 Grand Canyon: From Dream to Icon, Tucson Museum of Art, AZ
- 2003 Northern Arizona Unviersity Museum, Flagstaff, Arizona
- 2002 Phippen Museum, Prescott, Arizona
- 1996, 2000 Kolb Studio, Grand Canyon, Arizona
- 1988, 2000 Museum of the Southwest, Mesa, Arizona
- 1990,1996 Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, Arizona
- 1987 The Rockwell Museum, Corning, New York
- 1984 The Nickolas Museum, Casper, Wyoming
- 1983 Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach California
- 1982 Center of Modern Art, Guadalajara, Mexico
Books and Publications:
- ArtBook of the New West
- Beyond the Visible Terrain, The Art of Ed Mell, Northland Publishing
- Experience AZ
- The Majesty of the Grand Canyon
- Leading the West, Northland Publishing
- Luxe Magazine
- Smithsonian National Magazine of the American Indian
- Southwest Art Magazine
- Arizona Highways Magazine
- Western Art and Architecture
- Western Art Collector
- Western Interiors and Design
- Who’s Who in American Art
Ed Mell, Grand Canyon, Arizona