Retrospective exhibition explores impact of internationally acclaimed Asian brush painter

A retrospective exhibition honoring the life and legacy of internationally acclaimed sumi-e brush painter Dee Teller is underway at the Freeborn County Arts Initiative through the end of August.

Taught by famous Asian horse painter Lok Tok, a student of prominent Chinese painter Xu Beihong, among others, Teller was most famous for her horses but won many awards for calligraphy and gave workshops, lectures and demonstrations all over the Midwest and the world.

“She left just an incredible legacy through her students and through her arts activism and advocacy — through places like the Arts Initiative — so this is part of keeping her legacy alive,” said Elisha Marin with the Arts Initiative.

Marin said he and Susanne Crane planned the exhibition with Teller before she died last August.

“We are the place she chose to have her retrospective — I’m not sure if people understand the gravity of that — having somebody who was so widely honored and acclaimed and significant showing in our gallery, but she loved the Arts Initiative,” he said.

He said Teller was one of the reasons the Arts Initiative exists.

“ She was our first patron, one of our earliest supporters and just an angel and an icon,” he said. “This show is meant to honor her legacy.”

In addition to work from throughout her life — everything from scrolls to paintings to calligraphy — the exhibition also includes awards she received, as well as artifacts from her studio, including paint brushes and ink stones used in her paintings.

While many pieces will not be for sale, there will be many that are for sale. All proceeds will be placed in an arts education trust in Teller’s memory directed by her family.

Teller, born Delene Ross, had a master’s degree in studio arts and in 1992 was invited by China’s Ministry of Culture to be in an international competition. She won third place in the world out of 6,000 contestants from 16 countries, according to her website.

She is the only non-Asian artist with work and honors in “An Album of Selected Paintings by the 20th Century Outstanding Chinese Artists,” the site states.

Marin said the show is likely to bring in people from a wide area as Teller was a member of the Minnesota Ming Chiao Chapter of the Sumi-E Society of America Inc. and was a teacher and leader of that organization for a long time.

She also has had thousands of students and had a broad arts impact throughout the state.

“ This really so far has been a real attractor to the Albert Lea and the Arts Initiative,” Marin said. “The more people who can come to our community and see what arts and cultural experiences we have to offer, I think that helps make our community stronger.”

Working with her for over a decade, Marin said Teller was like a mother to him and the two were “incredibly close.”

He described her as one of the most extroverted people who ever existed, who was energetic, compassionate, joyful and cheerful.

“She’s one of the closest people of my life, and we miss her every day,” he said.

Crane said Teller was “a talented Minnesota artist, teacher, mentor, friend and patron of the arts.”

“She made an indelible mark on the Minnesota arts scene,” she said.

A remembrance will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Aug. 31, the final day of the exhibition.

The Arts Initiative is at 224 S. Broadway in Albert Lea.

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