User:Ada Olds/Burton

Burton Harry Callicott was an artist, co-founder, instructor, and finally, teacher emeritus of the Memphis College of Art. He was a 1926 graduate of Memphis, Tennessee Tech High School, then known as Crockett Technical School, and the Cleveland School of Art (1931).

He was a longtime member of the Memphis Lodge of the Theosophical Society in America, the Memphis Brooks Gallery and Museum, and the Memphis Calligraphy Guild.

He began his artistic career as a sculptor, which is reflected in his later studies of light and shadow, and their effect on gradations of color, especially around geometric solids. An early painting was exhibited at the World's Fair in New York, to great acclaim. Finishing art school in 1931, during the economic depression, he did many types of art, including some commercial and government grant work, Cotton Carnival parade floats, a creche for Elvis Presley's Graceland Christmas display, etc. Throughout his life he was generous with time and talent, not only in his formal teaching role, but professionally and socially. He seldom failed to donate a piece for the PBS-affiliate WKNO "Action Auction," or other fundraising for public benefit.

Early in his career, possibly while still a student, Burton developed an interest in the paranormal, psychic phenomena, etc. He was very aware of the influence of such things on Kandinsky and other artists. As he learned of Madame Blavatsky and theosophy, he became intrigued. A lifelong study was begun.

Mr. Callicott was the widower of Evelyne Baird Callicott (after 68 years of marriage).

[parts derived from an orbituary published in The Memphis Commercial Appeal on Tuesday, November 25, 2003. Also, the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), and the American Academy of the Arts of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Thanks to Linda Disney, Burton's colleague and friend, and to Linda Wayman, longtime friend of Findagrave and of Tech High.]

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