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A nice little article about me in today's local paper.

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Mixed media with folk flavor

By Nicole D'Amore, Correspondent
March 23, 2007

Urban folk art is how Terence Ulrich describes his work, so it's fitting that he is one of the artists chosen to participate in the Ventura Streetscape Mural Project.

Ulrich's four-part mural, titled "Surfer's Point," can be seen at Ventura Avenue and Main Street, near the Museum of Ventura County. It is a colorful representation of people enjoying the beach — surfing and flying a kite — with some larger-than-life birds added to the mix.

Ulrich's paintings come from his imagination and often feature unusual elements. Color is bright and unexpected, limbs might be missing, animals wear human clothing.

He did a series on Catholic saints as Mexican wrestlers, with titles like "Santo Domingo de Guzman." He did another series on American proverbs, inspired by a book in his studio.

"When I don't know what to do, I take a proverb and make a picture around it," Ulrich said. "I'm influenced by early carnival art, banner art, circus sideshow stuff, turn-of-the-century mural art."

In his garage, recently converted to a studio in Ventura, Ulrich has shopping bags full of items he has collected to be incorporated into his mixed-media pieces: Chinese paper, old pieces of wallpaper, wood in various sizes, lucky charms, telephone pole nails. He has been influenced by such artists as Jose Posada, Manuel Ocampo and Michael Ray Charles. His bookshelf includes autographed copies by the pop surrealists Mark Ryden and Robert Williams.

Ulrich was born in Indiana and started drawing before he was 7, he said.

"I used to try to duplicate characters in my comic books," he said. He started painting when he was about 15.

His family moved to California when he was 14, but after graduating from high school he went back to the Midwest and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1988 to 1990.

He returned to California and worked at various office jobs for several years, occasionally doing murals for people.

"I went to Platt College to learn design, to get out of the office," he said. He does illustrations for newspapers and magazines and for American Apparel in Los Angeles.

It was his wife, Ionia, who inspired him to get back into painting, he said.

"She saw my old sketchbooks and said, ‘You have to get out there and paint,' " he said. "She kind of disciplined me, whipped me into shape. She is my greatest supporter."

Before moving to Ventura, Ulrich and his wife lived in Los Angeles for six years, where his art was influenced by the urban environment.

"We lived one block from Skid Row; we were smack-dab in the middle of it," he said.

"I would see a billboard with old advertisements, layers and layers peeling like an onion, and I would wonder about that," he said. "I saw a blank canvas with my imagination as the unifying element to put the story together.

"I experimented on canvas, wood and other found objects and applied a system which mimicked my surroundings," he said. "Like most folk artists, the process and labor becomes part of the final product. There is a lot of gluing, cutting and sanding in my paintings."

He has exhibited paintings at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, was in a group show at the Nathan Larramendy Gallery in Ojai in 2005, and was one of only three California artists asked to participate in the "James Brown – Soul of America" exhibition in Georgia last summer. He also does commissions for private collectors.

The mural project is sponsored by the Ventura Public Art Commission with the objective of making art accessible to the community while encouraging bus transportation and discouraging graffiti. Murals are at bus stop shelters throughout the city. In addition to nine artists, participants included Buena High School, Cabrillo Middle School and the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance.

A dedication ceremony for the mural project will be at 11 a.m. today at the California Mini Park at Santa Clara and California streets. Mayor Carl Morehouse will speak and refreshments and complimentary bus tokens will be provided. For more information, call 658-4736.

For more information about Ulrich's art, visit his Web site, http://www.terenceulrich.com.