TED LAWSON

A long time ago.  In a galaxy (or state) far away, a young boy was having trouble in school.  Ted Lawson wasn’t a good student and needed some additional credits to graduate.  As is so often the case, his problem wasn’t mental ability, rather mental interest.  Drawing was one thing he did well so art classes provided the credits he needed.  Lucky for him, Sister Muriel was the art teacher at his Phoenix-area Catholic high school.  She saw something in Ted that others hadn’t and encouraged him to pursue his art.  He listened … sort of.

While building a fairly conventional life — Navy, marriage, college, job — Ted kept his art interest alive.  After a Mechanical Engineering job at Ashland Petroleum, now Marathon Oil landed him in Canton, Ohio, he called a friend, Doreen St. John who suggested he take watercolor classes with Bette Elliott.  The rest, as they say on TV, is history. 

Bette Elliott was a virtual patron saint to aspiring Stark County artists.  She was such a powerful force that the City of North Canton once staged a Bette Elliott Appreciation Day in her honor.  Ted Lawson became one of her star pupils.  Just as Sister Muriel had so many years before, Bette changed his direction by encouraging him to do what he enjoyed.  While most of her other watercolor students painted barns and flowers, Ted enjoyed painting grittier urban scenes filled with people.  Painting people is hard because it requires the ability to draw and a mastery of watercolors few achieve.  Ted had the talent to be different.

After retiring from the oil company, Ted turned his full attention to art.  A turning point came in 2010 when Jessica Bennett published Stark ARThology, a beautiful hardcover book featuring Ted’s painting “Mini-Bittner” on the cover.  It was a night scene featuring Taggart’s Ice Cream Parlor on a fall evening.  Soon Ted’s art began showing up in the most prestigious shows in the area.  Art is Alive.  The Canton National shows.  And more.  Ted’s stunningly precise compositions, distinctive subject matter and controlled use of watercolor paints made it easy to spot his work everywhere he showed.  Frequent trips to New York City added to his growing library of urban scenes. 

In 2014, Erica Ericson, the Director of the Canton Museum of Art’s School of Art asked Ted if he’d like to teach watercolor classes.  Today, his classes are among the most popular at the school. He tells stories about Bette Elliott and shows students how to draw using a grid system.  He teaches them how to locate a painting’s main interest point.  They learn color theory and how painting is like building a puzzle.  Most of all, he helps them pursue their own interests, whether it be landscapes, still life, people, urban scenes, flowers or barns.  Sister Muriel and Bette Elliott taught Ted that the best art comes from doing what you like.  Now he’s paying it forward.