Each brushstroke artist Ted Ellis takes is like a puzzle piece.
He paints in sections. There’s a depiction of Abraham Lincoln with broken shackles underneath him and the painted words of the Emancipation Proclamation immediately to the right. However, when a viewer takes a step back, it becomes clear that the entire work of art tells a story, the story of Juneteenth in Galveston.
“[In] 1865, when General Gordon Granger came in and ushered in General Order No. 3, saying ‘Cease and desist. It is the end of slavery. Those who are enslaved are now free,’” Ellis said.
Ellis was asked to paint a three-foot-diameter fiberglass soccer ball — about four times the size of a standard soccer ball. Galveston Island received a total of five fiberglass soccer balls for local artists to paint as part of its partnership with the Houston’s World Cup host committee to promote the island as a destination for World Cup visitors.
The 2026 World Cup is being held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. It begins on June 11, with Houston’s first match on June 14. About 500,000 people could come to Houston for the seven matches the city is hosting in June and early July, according to previous Houston Public Media reporting.
The City of Galveston agreed to pay $600,000 from its hotel occupancy tax revenue to be a promotional partner for the tournament, according to the Galveston County Daily News.
Each soccer ball will be painted to represent Galveston in some form or fashion. One of the soccer balls is Mardi Gras themed, another represents the island’s maritime history.
Chris Stanley with Visit Galveston, the marketing organization for the island, said the soccer balls will showcase Galveston on an international level.
“The idea is … that visitors that come in for World Cup will see them,” Stanley said. “But then they’ll go beyond too to remind people that we were part of the World Cup because that’s such a huge time when we’ve got, um, the most eyes of the world watching us.”
Ellis has been involved in preserving African-American history and culture for close to 35 years, documenting history through his paintings. Ellis spent close to five days on the soccer ball project. Each day, he pulled out his palette to mix the acrylic paints and make life out of the primary colors.
“It’s like a little chef, all that color,” Ellis said as he put paint on his palette. “The color of the world.”
