Today we’d like to introduce you to Thedra Cullar-Ledford.
Thedra Cullar-Ledford was born in Abilene, Texas and later moved to Mexico City and Eagle Pass, a small Texas/Mexico border town. At 16, she was emancipated in order to move to Dallas by herself to attend the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She received a full scholarship to California College of the Arts where she met her husband, Stephen, on the first day. They were married by age 21. Thedra received a BFA cum laude in painting and attended the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford University in the United Kingdom where she received a master’s degree in printmaking and sculpture. Thedra makes art, teaches at the university level, and with her husband runs Independence Art Studios, which provides studio spaces to working artists. They have two sons, Loden and Sage, and many animals.
Thedra’s art typically involves arranged collections of everyday objects, presented in some way that makes a statement. It is a mash-up of conceptualism, minimalism, storytelling, and autobiography. She strives to create personally meaningful work that combines careful craft and conceptual integrity. Thedra considers herself to be a conceptual artist who uses painting as a medium to talk about sexuality, race, and body image. She has had twelve solo art exhibitions in the United States and the United Kingdom, twenty-three group exhibitions, including one in India, and has participated in 12 juried exhibitions. Her work is in numerous public and private collections around the world.
Please tell us about your art.
Thedra Cullar-Ledford creates art that tells a story and provides meaning in a messy world. Her subject matter has included art about being Texan, about cultural impositions on woman, about being a woman with cancer, about being someone with a body, for someone who wears clothes, and for anyone with a fascination of jello and/or dolls, among many other themes. Her artistic practice includes painting, sculpture, photography, video art, and performance. Perhaps her most well-known exhibition to date has been Lady Part Follies at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston in 2016, an exhibition that addressed her diagnosis of and treatment for breast cancer. Thedra is a proud member of an international group of women who believe “flat is fabulous” and who celebrate the sexuality and innate beauty of a post-mastectomy body.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
Make art that says something about who you are, where you are from.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Thedra’s work can be seen through Vaughan Mason Fine Art at 3510 Lake Street in Houston, Texas, in the Upper Kirby Galleries. It can be viewed at http://vaughanmasonfineart.com and at http://www.independenceartstudios.com. She is on Instagram at @thedracl and @thefashionreaction.
Contact Info:
- Address: Thedra Cullar-Ledford
Independence Art Studios
419 Janisch Road
Houston, TX 77018 - Website: http://www.independenceartstudios.com
- Email: thedratx@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedracl/?hl=en
Image Credit:
Stephen Cullar-Ledford
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