Knoxville born Ted Burnett, (1908-1982), began his career as a teenager producing promotional displays at the then brand-new Tennessee Theatre in 1928. He studied art with Hugh Poe, a nationally known pastel artist, and Knoxville’s Robert Lindsay Mason before attending and graduating from the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He also studied at the Chicago Art Institute and Eliot O’Hara Watercolor School in Maine.
His first one-man show was held at UT’s Audigier Art Gallery in 1948. He opened the Ted Burnett School of Art in the late 1950s, before transitioning to paint stylized birds in the early 1970s. Ted’s many awards included the Hallmark International Award, Nashville Arts Festival Purchase Prize, Art Association of New Orleans Watercolor Prize, Tennessee Valley Art Association Reynolds Metal Award, the Birmingham Art Association Jury Exhibition Award, and the Dixie Museum Purchase Prize. He was included in numerous museum and gallery exhibits nationwide and his bicentennial print, “Bald Eagle,” was displayed at the White House in 1976. His works were featured posthumously at the East Tennessee History Center’s show, “Bagels and Barbecue: The Jewish Experience in Tennessee” in 2010-2011.
The Knoxville History Projects’ Knoxville Art Wraps includes one of his works. The Rabbi Saw Red, which can be viewed at the corner of West Summit HIll Drive and Walnut Street.
Aaron, mixed media, donated to Heska Amuna Synagogue by Michael Burnett and Evelyn Silvey
Zodiac/Pisces Aaron, mixed media
Sources: The Knoxville History Project, https://knoxvillehistoryproject.org/downtown-art-wraps/; Invaluable, https://www.invaluable.com/.