July 24, 2004
Ted Mead Exhibit August 21-22 & 28-29
The Westport Historical Society will be displaying some of the works of Ted Mead at the Bell School, 25 Drift Rd., Head of Westport on August 21-22 and 28-29 from 2-5 in the afternoon.
Theodore P. Mead graduated from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York in 1945 and began a lifelong career in the arts. He earned an advanced degree in education from Columbia University. He taught photography and design classes at Bradford Durfee Technical Institute in Massachusetts for several years and was Dean of the Fine Arts Department at the then Southeastern Massachusetts University and Professor of Photography at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth until his retirement in 1985. Ted and his family lived in Westport Point, Massachusetts for many years. He opened the Sandpiper Gallery, across from the Post Office, and featured the work of many local artists. His wife Helen and he retired to Marion, Massachusetts, and soon thereafter they moved to Maui, Hawaii, realizing a lifelong dream to return to the islands where Ted served in the Coast Guard during World War II. Ted worked in many media, but it was photography for which he was known and to which he devoted his efforts. He was particularly proud of a series of photographs he took of Horseneck Beach in Westport, unspoiled by the bits of glass and detritus, carelessly left behind, that his camera’s eye would record in later years. He and Helen were inveterate travelers and generous hosts to their friends and family. One of their trips took them to the studio of Ansel Adams, where Ted studied. Their son Kimble is an artist working today in Brooklyn and Maui. Ted and Helen died in Maui within years of one another.