Celebrating arts and culture in our community
Featured in the Springfield Beacon (January 23, 2008)
By Austin Berger
For the Beacon
Ed KingA well-traveled artist
You’ll find two things in many of Ed’s signature Christmas cards: A church and deer. The deer are a kindred spirit of sorts. Actually, fans are a better term. “They come down, look in the window, and watch me paint.”
In his home studio nestled in the Eugene hills, he finds it most conducive environment for creating art. However, his inspiration comes from all over the world. This 77-year-old retired sign maker turned watercolorist is as well traveled as he is an artist.
Inspiration to begin
“Ever since I was a kid, I got called in to do the art stuff,” says Ed, recalling his early childhood days in upstate New York. He we went to Montana State University in Bozeman as an art major, but in the middle of the term he started to wonder how he was going to make a living doing that, and thus switched over to graphic advertising design.
After graduating and working in Bozeman by making signs and billboards, he moved in ’61 out to Eugene to work as the art director for Martin Brothers. After a little work, he began to freelance. “I’d be heading into bed at two, and going to work at eight.” laughs Ed. His first sign company was called Eugene Signs, and was located right next to the new Fire station on West Second Avenue. He then went into the interior design field with fellow Bozeman sign maker, Gordon Obie; father of former Eugene Mayor Bryan Obie. Afterwards, he started his own company, King Design Inc., which among other things did store designs for chains in upstate New York, Florida, and Montana.
Eventually, King Design Inc. got so big, that he had to hire more designers, and spent more time managing designers than designing signs. About ten years ago he retired, finding more than ample time to fully engage his watercolor painting. This was also around the same time that a friend told him to join the Emerald Art Center. “He said to me ‘if you’re doing this art thing, you gotta join this art center.’” He also joined the Oregon Watercolor Society, but he never makes the meeting because he’s usually out of town.
Mentors
His world experience has played a crucial role in his watercolors. He and his wife are quite the travelers, traveling anywhere from six to eight times a year, as far as Europe, South America, and Asia. He uses these opportunities to gather scenes to paint as well as take the occasional workshop. In the Florence area of Italy, he took a workshop with renowned artist Joseph Bohler; however, his approach was more unorthodox than the rest, but obviously more effective. Although being a well-traveled artist, he’s not one to paint on location.
“I’d go into the towns and start taking pictures, then I’d take the pictures home and make paintings of them,” says Ed. “At the end of the day, I would have 60-80 paintings, and they would only have one.”
Ed also credits Ron Ranson as an influence in helping him loosen up. "He told me to just paint a door. Not the knob and the keyhole, but just a door. And he got me to use a bigger brush,” he says. Ed cites Portland artist Gene Gill, and his treatment of light, as an important influence.
Quality of life as an artist
Like any person who is lucky enough to make money while painting something, he’s living proof of the adage that if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.
“I'd like to look back and say I did something I like to do."
Ed's art seems to get around as much as he does. His line of Christmas cards are a hit, some of his art is in private homes in Europe, and his watercolors frequently makes their way into auctions at Northwest Christian College and the Rotary Club. You won’t find his art in any galleries though. He can’t stand to have his art marked up so high by galleries, so he offers tours of his home studio where he sells his art.
Legacy as an artist
Whether art is one of those genetic traits that skip a generation is anyone’s guess, but his granddaughter is already showing promise as an artist at age 16. “She’s already starting to develop her own technique,” says Ed proudly. For the rest of the kids, Ed advises not to get into the “crazy abstract stuff. Just do what you like to do, and do something so you can put it on the wall and keep looking at it and like it,” says Ed.
By now, Ed and his wife should be in Mexico or Arizona, on another adventure. Hopefully he will find some other great things worth painting while down south.
For an appointment to visit Ed’s studio, call 484-0285.
"Italy" by Ed King
All art images and photos of the art are copyright of the artist.
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About the Artist
Hometown: Auburn, N.Y.
Media of Choice: Watercolors
Favorite Subjects to Paint: Old Ships and Mountains
Favorite Place to Paint: In his home studio
Arts Organizations: Emerald Empire Arts Assoc., Oregon Watercolor Society
Gallery Showings: At home - call for an appointment: 484-0255
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