Ted Decker

TED G. DECKER Ted Decker is an Arizona native and graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing. His business career includes banking management, operations management at two private educational foundations in Washington, DC, private investments that included real estate, oil and gas drilling and exploration, and cattle feeding, managing a telephone sales group, in private art consultation and collections management, and as an adjunct faculty college professor. For over four decades, he has passionately collected art, and owns and maintains a collection of nearly 1,000 works, produced primarily by artists living in Arizona, the United States and in Latin America, mainly in Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico. Since 2013 he has taught nearly 50 various Art History courses, as well as Professional Practices for Visual Artists and Designers and Gallery/Museum Operations courses at Mesa Community College. He also teaches the Professional Practices course and an art appreciation course online at Arizona State University. He wrote and teaches MCC’s first online Art History course. In Spring, 2020, Decker was named 2020 Outstanding Adjunct Faculty member at Mesa Community College. In addition to teaching, he works as an independent art consultant with clients and as an independent curator on projects in Phoenix, Latin America, and Europe on an ongoing basis. In 2010, he co-founded Phoenix Institute of Contemporary Art (phICA) and currently serves as its Director and Curator. To-date, Ted has curated over 100 exhibitions primarily in Phoenix but also in Portugal, Brazil, and Mexico. He has served as President of the Contemporary Forum (Phoenix Art Museum), twice as Chair of the Advisory Board of ASU Art Museum, and as Vice Chair of the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture whose Public Art Committee he chaired for four years. He has served on the Regional Light Rail Art Committee since 2003. He has been nominated for Arizona Governor’s Arts Award (Individual) three times, most recently in 2019. As an advocate for the visual arts and artists for over 4 decades, he has provided nearly $120,000 in mostly mini-grants directly to artists for building the professional side of their careers through the Ted Decker Catalyst Fund he established in 2003. In 2001, he earned a Master of Arts degree from Arizona State University in Art History after successfully defending his thesis on aspects of Cuban Modernist painting. He previously worked as Associate Director of Development at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and as Manager of Special Museum Initiatives at ASU Art Museum. My overarching philosophy of teaching and of my curatorial practice involves building bridges among people through art and culture - promoting understanding, awareness, and equity – and promoting global views of the art and art business worlds. Rather than trying to make more artists, I am committed to producing good citizens through instruction centered on personal responsibility, critical thinking, and creative problem solving related to sharing information and promoting of understanding of art works and the business of art and design. To challenge and engage a new demographic of ASU students, I employ various interactive activities that promote critical thinking while breaking from the monotony of traditional lectures, as well as students learning from each other.