Savvy Painter’s Talent for Business Keeps Collectors Coming

Few artists have painted their way to success with the business instinct of Melanie Taylor, the official artist for the Millennium Rose Parade.

“Every picture has its own niche,” said Taylor, seated in the cozy studio of her 12,000-square-foot home in Westlake Village, which she designed with the help of a team of Disney Imagineers. Before she begins painting, Taylor asks herself, “Who would want to buy this?”

This bottom-line approach has served the former high school art teacher well. Her colorful, animation-style serigraphs are collected by celebrities from Liza Minnelli to Michael Jackson and Ronald Reagan. The piece commissioned by the Tournament of Roses is set in outer space and depicts a giant blue rose moving through a galaxy of blue crystal. The focus of the picture is Mickey Mouse, in his familiar guise as the sorcerer’s apprentice.

“Mickey Mouse symbolizes using our imagination in the years to come to bring about a positive and glorious future,” said the 53-year-old artist and mother of two grown children. The serigraph painting also contains images of past Rose Parades and representations of this year’s event. Because Roy E. Disney will be the grand marshal of the parade, he is depicted riding in a vintage Packard.

“I don’t think you could compare her art to anyone’s,” said Ken Burrows, president and chairman of the Rose Parade, who commissioned Taylor to do the new millennium piece. “I’ve never seen an artist depict events like she does. She’s able to get across a complete event in one painting. It’s done in a manner where you get a lot of product in one painting.”

Those who do not delight in art that employs cartoon characters to memorialize events can still appreciate the background and skills Taylor used to reach success.

After graduating from UCLA as an art major, Taylor asked to teach in the toughest schools. During five of her 10 years working at San Fernando High School, she acquired government funds so that her students could beautify city streets and paint murals on walls covered with graffiti.

De’Wayne Jett, a former football player for the Detroit Lions and L.A. Raiders, was one of her high school art students. He said Taylor was able to transcend age differences and ethnicity.

“She always told me I would be a great athlete one day. With that positive image she painted on my mind, I did go on to become something great. It wasn’t just me, it was everyone in her classroom,” Jett said.

After striking out on her own, Taylor began working in serigraphs, which are made by reproducing each color of a painting separately on plastic sheets. Some serigraphs contain more than 200 colors and require the same number of overlays. The work is printed, color by color, with a day’s drying time between pigment applications. Only a limited number of serigraphs are produced, thereby increasing their value. To further augment their worth, Taylor sometimes adds to the painting’s borders, customized art known as remarques, or she may invite a celebrity depicted in the work to sign it.

Not only are Taylor serigraphs collected by celebrities, politicians and corporations, they also are shown in museums and galleries.

Larry Kay, whose collection of Taylor serigraphs comprises a one-woman show at the Pasadena Museum of Art, said he has been purchasing Taylor’s art since the 1980s, when she sold her work at street fairs.

“We love her work. It’s colorful, it’s fun and there’s history involved,” said Kay.

And it appreciates in value.

“I bought two paintings at a UCLA art festival for $175. Now my most recent purchase has been valued somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000,” Kay said.

Each Rose Parade serigraph commands $2,000. They will be displayed in the hospitality area, in the guest luncheon tent adjacent to the Rose Bowl. The lunch is $38, and reservations can be made at (626) 449-4100.

“Taylor has a rare business talent combined with a talent as an artist,” said Ira Shore, an international contemporary art dealer who owns Fine Arts Management Corp.

“She is concerned about the ultimate consumer and what they think of her paintings,” Shore said.

Taylor has also served as the official artist for about 10 movie studios.

Sometimes artists are proprietary about their work, but Taylor invites participation by her customers.

When it is time to take her paintings to market, Taylor focuses her efforts. To sell her autographed serigraphs of basketball star Michael Jordon amid Loony Tunes characters, she contacts sports fans. She also saves names and addresses of people who like her work--some of her lists go back to her days selling art in the park--and mails them information when a new serigraph is available.

She has been handsomely rewarded by her business sense. Her $4-million home on 1.5 acres adjacent to the North Ranch Golf Course has a cobblestone driveway that crosses a bridge over a moat to the front doors. The foyer has a 25-foot ceiling, a fountain and limestone floors.

But she is still a teacher at heart.

“I want to become a teacher again,” she said. “I want to teach a class, open to non-art majors, on how people can get in touch with their creativity. I do not want to teach in the classroom; I see teaching it outdoors.”

She also hopes to impart her wisdom on how to turn creativity into paychecks.

“Part of the class will teach artists, writers and musicians how to make a profession out of creativity and use creativity to pay their bills,” she said.