Arnold Mikelson

Who was Arnold Mikelson?

What do the estates of film stars Vincent Price and Glenn Ford have in common? And what do each of these estates have in common with valuables owned by Laugh-In’s Arte Johnson, Partridge Family Mom Shirley Jones, and Room 222 star Karen Valentine, along with many other Hollywood stars?

The answer: all possess classic wood sculptures created by world-renowned artist, the late Arnold Mikelson, and each piece tells a story as exotic and as complex as Mikelson’s too-short life.

The highlights of Mikelson’s career include such diverse accomplishments as having been Chief Designer for Royal Crown Derby Porcelain of England, a company founded in 1750, but revitalized under his artistic leadership; a move to Canada at the invitation of Senator Donald Cameron, one of the patrons of the world famous Banff Centre, known in the 1950s as The Banff School of Fine Arts; and the creation of the Mind and Matter Gallery in South Surrey/White Rock, B.C., a facility that still displays much of his original work decades after his death. But to appreciate these highs, to understand something about the man hailed as one of the finest artists of his time, one must travel back in time to humble beginnings in Mikelson’s native Latvia.