Early Conch Years

William T. (Ted) Buckley was born at Key West Naval Hospital in 1954, son of a submarine sailor and his young wife from rural North Georgia. The first ten years of his life were spent learning an appreciation for boating, fishing, snorkeling, and artifact hunting. It was also during this time that he discovered that he had a talent for accurately rendering sailing ships and boats, and discovered the excitement that surrounded the occasional hurricanes that frequented the Keys.  

 

Spain, Scotland, & London, England 

In 1965, with his father now an officer in the Navy the family moved to Spain where they lived for the next four years. It was during this time that Ted learned how to speak Spanish by attending a Spanish school and an appreciation for the history and ready availability of artifacts that added tangible evidence and an interest in collecting. While living in Spain the family had opportunity to extensively travel around Spain, Portugal and the rest of Western Europe where the art, history and culture of the people. It eventually became a family joke that they were over-”edumicated” rednecks from Appalachia.

 Beijing, China | Ted & Patsy at Forbidden City

In 1970 with his father now a Lieutenant Commander the family moved to Holy Loch, Scotland. For the next two years Ted attended high school at co-ed boarding schools in England finally graduating with his diploma from London Central High School located in High Wycombe. It was during his senior year at London Central that Ted had an opportunity to develop his painting, drawing and photographic skills. Mostly done with his academic requirements for a high school diploma after his junior year, Ted was able to concentrate on photography and cinematography. There he met an influential Art teacher named Martha Gail Kelly who was the wife of Francis Kelly, a well-known expatriate painter and printmaker who showed Ted the local art community in London during weekend visits to their mews studio in downtown London. He also enjoyed frequent hitchhiking adventures around England and France, multi-day trips that his instructors and roommates were able to cover for that he referred to as “Bunburying”, a reference to Oscar Wylde’s novel.

 

Beijing, China | Patsy & Ted on Hutong Rickshaw Tour

1972 High School Graduation | London, England

Following his graduation in 1972 from London Central High School, Ted packed his belongings, and with low-priority travel orders managed to hitch a ride back to the US on a C-5 Starlifter that took him to Dover, Delaware. There, he hitchhiked down I-95 to Georgia, found a summer job at a carpet mill and started college that Fall. He eventually arrived in Athens, GA and after several years of supporting himself building cabinets and working construction jobs he graduated from the University of Georgia in 1977, with a BFA in Drawing and Painting. It was in Athens that Ted decided to stop exhibiting his work after several of his paintings were stolen from the University gallery and a local gallery and never recovered. Ted’s Old Master painting style and dreamscape subjects attracted a lot of attention. And the fact that some of his works took weeks to complete due to his use of translucent layers of paint that had to harden before new layers could be added, their loss was devastating. He decided that someday he would edition his work by Lithography, but the process was and still is very expensive. The invention of Giclee printing and the ability to create archival prints on paper and canvas has now created an opportunity to edition some of Ted’s old and new works. 

 

Beijing, China | Patsy at Ming Tombs Sacred Way

Landscape Architecture Degree | Environmental Designer

Ted has subsequently obtained his degree in Landscape Architecture and has had a long career in the land development and construction industry, culminating in a position as the City of Savannah’s Landscape Architect. He still actively makes photographs and paintings, and is an artist member of The Landings Art Association on Skidaway Island, GA.

His Master’s Thesis was titled, “Analysis and Design For Development  in Hurricane-Prone Coastal Zones”. He still continues with a Conch’s Vision.