Don Edelman

Art Brokerage: Don Edelman American Artist: b. 1925. Don Edelman gave the following interview: I came to Houston to sell encyclopedias and in the process met Jim Abercrombie who said, Hey, come to work for me. So I went to work for Cameron [Iron Works] and worked with them for ten years [doing] industrial advertising. In about 1975 my then-wife-to-be said, If you're going to be an artist, be an artist. So I quit Cameron. I had a few accounts that I took care of, and did that for a while. Ever since then I've been moving around and creating art. It was 63 or thereabouts in those times you didn't make a living with art. You either taught art, or you did industrial, commercial art. A few lucky people that maybe lived in New York were making a living [in art.] Back then the idea of making a living with art was kind of a wonderful idea to think about. It's just been a very gradual thing always painting, selling some now and then. People know about you, and maybe buy things. I always entered competitive exhibits, but even then my contacts with other artists have been very rare. I did have some gallery pieces and I'd worked with some art consultants [but] I never knew where my next painting or sale [would come from]. In one show they did at the Hooks-Epstein Gallery, Another Reality, Bert Long actually used or borrowed one of my paintings to show people what he was talking about [in terms of] other realities. That kind of brought me to that particular gallery but that's a case of an artist helping another artist. Listings wanted.