Join us for Icons of American Art, an Opening Reception of new paintings featuring Thomas Blackshear, Dean Mitchell, and Ezra Tucker. Meet these prominent black voices in American Art during our Exhibition and Sale. Each artist comes from a strong illustrative background and uses their versatile techniques, paired with strong visual narratives to explore American Art and their identity as it relates. This event is open to the public.

Thomas Blackshear:
Thomas Blackshear II went to work for the Hallmark Card Company in Kansas City, MO for one year after his 1977 graduation from the American Academy of Art in Chicago. While there, he met the famous illustrator Mark English and became his apprentice for several months. In 1980 he worked as head illustrator for Godbold/Richter Studio. He became a freelance illustrator in 1982 and has been self-employed ever since.
Known for his dramatic lighting and sensitivity to mood, Blackshear has produced illustrations for advertising, books, calendars, collector’s plates, greeting cards, magazines, postage stamps, and national posters. His clients range from Disney Pictures, George Lucas Studios and Universal Studios to International Wildlife and National Geographic Magazine. Thomas has illustrated 30 United States postage stamps including four 50th Anniversary Movie Poster Stamps, the Universal Monster Stamps, and the Mother Theresa Stamps. He also illustrated a commemorative stamp book entitled “I Have a Dream.” Seventeen of his original paintings from the publication were exhibited at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. and toured the country for eight years.
Thomas has also designed and executed illustrations for four collector’s plate series, including Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Star Trek, and Star Trek, the Next Generation. He is known for his bestselling Christian prints produced for Day Spring’s Masterpiece Collection, including “Forgiven,” “Coat of Many Colors, Lord of All,” “Watchers in the Night,” and “Liberty.” In 1995 Blackshear created his most popular art line today. For 20 years “Ebony Visions” has been the number one selling black figurine collectible in the United States.
Blackshear has taught three semesters at the San Francisco Academy of Art College as well as lectured at numerous workshops throughout the country. He is also known internationally, having taught a workshop in Sweden and toured German Air Force bases twice. In 2006, at his show in the Vatican, Thomas unveiled his painting of Pope John Paul II for the 25th Anniversary of the Pope John Paul II Foundation.

Dean Mitchell:
Dean Mitchell was born in Pittsburg and raised by his grandmother in Quincy, Florida. In addition to watercolors, he is well accomplished in egg temperas, oils, and pastels. During his four-decade long career, Dean has become well known for his figurative works, landscapes, and still lifes.
Education: Columbus College of Art & Design (BFA, MFA)
Publications: The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Southwest Art, Art of the West, American Artist, Western Art Collector, Artists Magazine, Fine Art International, Art News, The Art of Watercolour Magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, the Outwin 2016 American Portraiture Today at the National Portrait Gallery.
Museums: Autry National Center, Arkansas Art Center, Canton Museum of Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Margaret Harwell Art Museum, Rockwell Museum, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Beach Museum of Art, Phoenix Art Museum, Gadsden Art Center, Whitney Museum of the American West, Mississippi Art Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, Library of Congress and the Quanhua Art Museum in China.
Awards: over 600 awards including the T.H. Saunders International Artists in watercolor competition in London, England, American Watercolor Society Gold and Silver Medal, National Watercolor Society Masters award, Allied Artist of American Gold Medal in Watercolor and Oil, Donald Teague Memorial Award and the Robert M. Lougheed Memorial Award Prix de West, Premier Platinum Award Buffalo Bill Center of the West , Art for the Parks $50,000 Grand Prize, Loa Ruth Spring Award from the National Watercolor Society, The Award of Excellence Shanghai Zhujiajiao International Watercolour Biennial Exhibition.

Ezra Tucker:
With a storytellers point-of-view, Ezra Tucker brings a special sensitivity to his depiction of familiar and imaginative creatures. His imagery stimulates and challenges the senses. The appeal for Ezra’s artwork has been recognized through numerous awards and he has an extensive and prestigious commercial and private clientele, including the National Forestry Service, Coors Brewing Company, Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Miller Brewing Company, Disney, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Lucas Films, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, MGM Studios, MGM Grand Hotel, Bank of America, the Field Museum, Lockheed, Chevron, CBS Records, Outdoor Life Magazine, Sony Pictures, Seagrams, 20th Century Fox, the Levi-Strauss Company, NFL Films and the United States Postal Service.