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
