Born in the mining town of Morenci, Arizona, Ted DeGrazia became one of Arizona's most prominent painters, illustrators, and graphic artists, resulting in his studio gallery being listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He lived most of his life near Tucson, and worked in his studio, open to the public, that he called "The Gallery of the Sun." His signature work is paintings and illustrations of 'angel-like' Southwest children, many of them Indian and Hispanic.

He was the son of an immigrant father who was a copper miner for Phelps Dodge Company, but Ted, at age eleven, returned to Italy with his family for the next five years. When he returned to Morenci, he had forgotten most of his English and...