Linda Lewis, Narrative Sculpture in Clay


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Creating life from mud

 

Biography

Growing up in a small town in Michigan , Linda Lewis was often drawing or painting, building houses for her dolls or sewing.  She would likely be found in the sand box making buildings and cities and objects. A fresh rain yielded more creations!  Around age 10 her brothers and she discovered some clay in the banks of a creek. Long hours were spent making and remaking objects  from the clay she dug from the side of the creek. With no art curriculum at the school she attended, she was surprised to find she could fit in at least one art class each semester while attending a small college in Iowa (Graceland College). Her focus was drawing and painting but a four week workshop in ceramics left her wanting to do more with ceramics.

Linda began teaching elementary school after college, married, and became the parent of four children. After her children were grown and with 30 years as an educator, she began pursuing a lifelong dream as an artist.  Forty years after her first experience on the banks of a small creek,  she began  creating figurative sculptures from clay and taking classes at the Des Moines Art Center and in Santa Fe, New Mexico . 

Linda now creates medium-scale, earthy, figures from clay. The figures are hand-built using stoneware or earthenware clay and fired at low temperatures.  Surfaces of oxides, slips, underglazes and glazes are added and fired several times between each application until a rough, weathered texture, with glimpses of color emerges. 

If you look hard enough, you might see a part of yourself in one of the pieces.

Resume

Linda Lewis
5908 Brookview Dr., West
Des Moines, Iowa  50266        
515-224-1276

lindalewisart@msn.com

Juried Exhibitions
2008   Marion Arts Festival, Marion, Iowa
2008    Iowa Arts Festival, Iowa City, Iowa
2008   Iowa Sculpture Festival, Newton, Iowa
2008   Krasl Art Festival, St. Joseph, MI.
2008   Uptown Art Festival, Minneapolis, MN.
2007    Greater Des Moines Exhibited 14; Polk County Heritage Gallery
2007    Iowa Exhibited 21; Polk County Heritage Gallery
2007    Uptown Arts Festival, Minneapolis, Mn.
2007    Iowa Arts Festival; Iowa City, Ia.
2007    Iowa Sculpture Festival; Newton, Ia.
2007    Uptown Art Festival, Minneapolis, Mn.
2006    Iowa Sculpture Festival; Newton, Ia.
2006    Iowa Exhibited 21; Polk County Heritage Art Gallery , Des Moines, Ia.

Solo Exhibitions

2008   Life from mud; Charles City Art Museum, Charles City, Ia.

Group Exhibitions

2008   Linda Lewis & Jane Chukas; Outside the Lines Gallery, Dubuque, Ia.
2007    The haunting and the hilarious; The Downtown Chait Gallery, Iowa City, Ia.
2007    Plays well with others:a collaboration between artists, From Our Hands, Des Moines, Ia.
2007    New Works from Linda Lewis, Diane Mattern & C. Briggs; From Our Hands, Des Moines, Ia.
2006       
Earthen Treasures; From Our Hands, Des Moines, Ia.
2006    Galleries in the Gallery; Polk County Heritage Gallery, Des Moines, Ia.

Awards

2008   Honorable mention, Iowa sculpture Festival, Newton, Ia.
2007    First Place, Clay, Artbuzz, 2008 Collection
2007    Finalist, Uptown Arts Festival, Minneapolis, Mn.
2007    3rd Place, Sculpture Competition, Sculptural Pursuit
2007    3rd Place, Iowa Arts Festival, Iowa City, Ia.
2006    2nd Place, Iowa Sculpture Festival, Newton, Iowa

 Publications

2008    Artbuzz; 2008 Collection
2007    "Linda Lewis, Narrative Sculpture", Sculptural Pursuit ,Fall, 2007;
2006    “Thou art the best of 2006,” Jim Duncan, Cityview, Des Moines, Ia.
2006    “The bearable likeness of being,”Jim Duncan, City View, Des Moines, Ia.
2006    Clay’s the thing,” Michael Morain, Des Moines Register, Des Moines,Ia.

 Gallery Representation

From Our Hands; East Village , Des Moines, Ia.
The Downtown Chait Gallery; Iowa City, Ia
Outside the Lines, Dubuque, Ia.

Education

2007    The figure; Judy Fox, Santa Fe, NM
2006        Figure-form-Surface-Vessel; Andy Nacisse, Santa Fe, NM .
2006        Sculpting the figure; Rick Stewart, Des Moines Art Center , RDG  Dahlquist Clayworks
2006        Handbuilding; Chris Rodi, DSM Art Center , RDG Dahlquist Clayworks
2006        Mold Making; Rick Stewart, DSM Art Center , RDG Dahlquist Clayworks
2005        Storytelling, narrative sculpture; Debra Fritz; Santa Fe, NM .

2
003-2006 Various ceramics classes through the DSM Art center, Des Moines, Ia.

1989    Drake University , MSE
1975    Graceland University , BA

Born

1953    Vassar, Mi. now resides in West Des Moines, Iowa

lindalewisart@msn.com 515.975.0979
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