Pigment International advisor, artist Ted Ellis, salutes Civil rights icon John Lewis with two specially created works
Artist and cultural historian Ted Ellis has unveiled two works dedicated to the life and legacy of Civil Rights icon John Lewis. Georgia Congressman John Lewis, age 80, lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on July 17, after an illustrious 36 year career in the U.S House of Representatives.
The piece “Bloody Sunday” depicts one of the most famous marches in American history held on March 7, 1965. It depicts more than 600 people marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., demanding voting rights. Mr. Lewis, one of the organizers and leaders of the march, was in the vanguard of protesters who faced off against a phalanx of state troopers in riot gear.
Ellis’ portrait, “The John Lewis Story,” features him wearing his Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to him by President Barack Obama in 2011. Lewis is superimposed against tableaus of significant moments from his life.
“My goal with these two pieces was to capture the life and times of a man who was known as the “the conscience of the Congress” by his colleagues,” said Ellis. He has left us with an unmatched legacy of how to live a principled life that takes nothing but gives everything.”
Ellis, who holds a master’s degree from Southern University in New Orleans in Museum Studies has been capturing the history and cultural of Black Americans in his work for more than 30 years. He currently serves as the Vice Chair and the Committee Chair of Entertainment, Arts, and Culture on the 400 Years of African American History Commission. The Commission formed by Public Law 115–102 was signed into law on January 8, 2018. It established a Federal commission, to be administered by the NPS, to coordinate the 400-year anniversary, in 2019, of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to the English colonies at Point Comfort, Virginia, on the site of what is now Fort Monroe National Monument.
Ellis also is an advisor to the Pigment International®, the multi-cultural arts collective, and was nominated by the group to the Commission in 2018. Ellis will be one of the keynoters for the second annual celebration of Black Fine Art Month, an initiative of Pigment International this October.
His personal rendition of Barack Obama in acrylic, Obama, the 44th President, was presented in honor of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration.
About Ted Ellis
Ted Ellis is an American artist and former environmental chemist who just recently received his master’s in museum studies from Southern University of New Orleans (SUNO). Ellis is best known for his African-American themed art, a style which blend elements of folk art, naturalism and impressionism. Ellis’ art has been featured in movies and television programs and he works with several prominent corporations. He continues to provide corporate talks about art and productivity in the workplace, he lectures at universities about visual learning and education and lectures at museums and cultural institutions. He is also known for his community work, especially advancing arts in children’s education.
