The owners of Artistic Talent Group, Keelan and Barbara Parham, have quite the story and quite the love story. Barbara, who has always gone by the nickname “Barbie,” was 19 years old when she met Keelan. Barbie watched as Keelan competed onstage as an Elvis impersonator. (Yes, you read that correctly) He needed to win the top prize to pay his rent. He DID win, but as time passed, they quickly realized that being an Elvis Tribute Artist wouldn’t pay the bills. Keelan came across an advertisement in the local paper and applied for a job as a Caricature Artist at Disney World. He had always been an artist, but a “starving” one. Keelan graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design, and Barbie knew he had the artistic talent to draw ANYTHING. Fast forward to his first day on the job. At the end of the day, he told Barbie, “I hated it. I’m not going back.” But, with a little nudging and encouragement from Barbie, Keelan reluctantly returned to the caricature job the next day. After sticking to it for a couple of weeks, Keelan became fascinated with the art of Caricature. This was not an art form he had learned in college, and there was no formal training in his new position. Regardless, he jumped in and taught himself how to do it. He embraced the opportunity to use his art skills to entertain theme park Guests and create lasting memories for them! Keelan and Barbie were married in 1993. They joke that they are the perfect team because Keelan is ALL right-brained and Barbie is ALL left-brained. The couple’s entrepreneurial spirit and creative passion led them to open a small Caricature kiosk at the Pointe Orlando shopping complex in 1997. Hundreds of thousands of Caricature drawings later, the Parhams now own and operate 12 retail locations across Walt Disney World Resort property. They’ve partnered with Disney since 1998 and opened their first theme park location, Animal Kingdom, in 1999. Two decades later, they opened their first brick-and-mortar storefront, The Art Corner, at Disney Springs in early 2019. The Parhams’ vision, right from the beginning, was to bring artists out of their studios and into the spotlight where people could be entertained by their talents. Providing artwork at retail kiosks is one arm of the business, but there is also an extremely successful talent agency. Artistic Talent Group (Talent Agency License #780) introduces the talents of hundreds of artists to the special events industry across the United States. Providing everything from Classic Caricatures to Graphic Recording, over 60 unique artists are available. Artistic Talent Group is a proud member of the International Live Events Association (ILEA), Visit Orlando, National Association of Catering and Events (NACE). Keelan is a member of the National Cartoonist’s Society (NCS) and the International Society of Caricature Artists (ISCA). The Parhams have also served on the boards of the ILEA (Barbara) and ISCA (Keelan) organizations. Keelan is the author of the book “Let’s Toon Caricatures.” It has inspired many budding artists to enter the world of caricature.

Working with the Artistic Talent Group was great! We hired two caricature artists and one calligrapher and were blown away by their work. Everyone was so professional and incredibly accommodating. Will definitely be reaching out to them again for business! I have worked with a number of different artists from Artistic Talent Group and each of them have been incredibly talented and extremely professional. The caricaturists are personable and speedy and their work is fun and whimsical. The air brush artists work like the speed of light - creating hats and shirts for guests to enjoy. Artistic Talent Group is the first place I go to for artists because they are all so talented and fun to work with. They get my highest recommendations The artists were great - the kids loved having themselves drawn - it was wonderful the way the artists were so enthusiastic with each student - the evening was a great success! P.S. I have another Senior graduating next year and I will HIGHLY recommend we do this again! We really enjoyed him - he gave his all and I mean “all”! Thanks for everything! Your artist was an absolute hit! Our clients all remarked about how good he was and how fast! We will have to have you guys back again next year. I heard so many people talking about, not only how he got everyone's likenesses down, but how beautiful the finished pieces were. I actually got to see him work on our main client. It was terrific. In years past, when we've used other companies, she never thought her caricature looked like her. She thought this one did. He was so good, he always had a line! And also, thank you for being so flexible, I know this was kind of a last minute booking. I really appreciate all of your help and professionalism! Many thanks to your artists, our Bat Mitzvah was a HUGE success. The two artists you sent to us couldn't have been more pleasant and they were absolutely WONDERFUL. Thank you for making our event such a great one!!