Biography
Trisha (Teffeteller) Selgrath
After years of "making a living" producing advertising and decorative art, Trisha, who felt that it is time to focus on her passion for fine art, stated, "I feel that I now possess some insight and wisdom worthy of expression". When deciding on a subject, she combined her love of nature with spiritual awareness focusing on images discovered during her many journeys. "I don't want to just paint pretty landscapes. They are metaphores for life; the struggle, transformation, beauty, and determination that I find so inspirational. I have stood before each scene that I recreate attempting to inspire in the viewer the same sense of awe that I felt. By painting, I pay homage to the light and shadows, colors and shapes, textures and atmosphere." Trisha will launch her first collection of originals and self-published, highly limited edition giclees in 2012.
Now, back to the beginning. . .
Born in the town of Maryville, Tennessee at the foot of the Smoky Mountain National Park, Trisha always loved exploring nature and drawing. She was grateful that her parents approved of her pursuit of a Fine Arts Degree. After graduating from the University of North Texas, she took the "practical" route through commercial art and advertising.
After spending years climbing the corporate ladder from Art Director to Creative Director, she realized that the higher she went, more of her time was spent conceptualizing and meeting with clients instead of hands-on designing and illustrating. So she left the fast track to paint and start a family.
In 1997, while pregnant with her first, she was painting a large mural on his bedroom wall when the idea for Imaginative Murals was born. She combined all her experience with printing and her love of painting to create inexpensive prints of elaborately painted murals. "In my home studio, I painted the murals on canvas or wooden panels while the baby slept and my husband, Randy Selgrath, called on stores to sell them on the idea", Trisha explained. One of their first major accounts was Home Depot so they quickly expanded into a warehouse working with kids in tow.
The artist admitted, "Launching a business and starting a family at the same time is not easy but it afforded us both more time with our children. We juggled packing and shipping with playing, stepping over toys and avoiding speeding tricycles". They were the first on the market to sell die-cut, trompe l’oeil style murals and quickly gained international distribution through tradeshows reaching retailers, decorators, catalogs, TV shopping networks and the internet. Mustering up all her courage, Trisha even made "live" appearances on QVC and HSN (Home Shopping Network). Using her backgound in advertising and marketing, Trisha created branding, collateral, packaging, sales materials, websites, and advertisements.
Over a decade later, they are still selling murals, however, now, Trisha prints them herself on a large format, digital printer. You can browse through the designs on their RTZ Company website. Also, Trisha developed a line of motivational and inspirational art and gifts called Re-defined for Life. The selection of over 50 original quotes and designs is available in a variety of forms on the Re-defined website.