Creating life from mud
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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. Around age 10 her brothers and she discovered some clay in the banks of a creek. Long hours were spent making and remaking objects on rocks in the creek. With no art curriculum in the small town she grew up in, 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 34 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 taking classes at the
Des Moines
Art
Center
and took a workshop from a figurative sculptor 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
2009 Plaza Art Festival, Kansas City, Mo.
2009 Des Moines Art Festival, Des Moines, Ia.
2009 Loring Park Art Festival, Minneapolis, Mn.
2009 Krasl ArtFestival, St. Joseph, MI
2009 Crested Butte Art Festival, Crested Butte, Co.
2009 Loveland Sculpture Festival, Loveland, Co.
2009 Iowa Arts Festival, Iowa City, Ia.
2008 Metro Arts, Two Rivers Festival, Des Moines, Ia.
2008 Marion Arts Festival, Marion, Ia.
2008 Iowa Arts Festival, Iowa City, Ia.
2008 Iowa Sculpture Festival, Newton, Ia.
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
2009 Small Works; Chait Gallery, Downtown; Iowa City, Ia.
2009 Exhibit XIV; Heritage Gallery; Des Moines, Ia
2008 Linda Lewis & Jane Chukas; Outside the Lines Gallery, Dubuque, Ia.
2008 Exhibit XX1; Heritage Gallery; Des Moines, Ia
2007 The haunting and the hilarious; The Downtown Chait Gallery, Iowa City, Ia.
2007 Exhibit XV; Heritage Gallery; Des Moines, Ia
2007 Plays well with others:a collaboration between artists, From Our Hands, Des Moines, Ia.
2007 New Works from Linda Lewis, Diane Mattern & N. 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.
Teaching
2010 Des Moines Art Center, "Narrative Sculpture"
2009 Des Moines Art Center, "Bringing the figure to life"
Public sites
Women's Health Center, Mother and Child, Evanston, Il.
Community of Christ; Dark Night of the Soul; Independence, MO.
Charles City Art Center; Working on Calluses; Charles City, Ia.
Downtown School; The Pied Teacher; Des Moines, Ia.
Awards
2009 Merit Award, Exhibit XIV; Heritage Gallery; Des Moines, Ia
2009 Best of Sculpture, Krasl Art Festival, St. Joseph, MI.
2009 First place, Iowa Art Festival, Iowa City, Ia
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
2009 Des Moines Register, Artist Review
2009 Spotlight Art, Linda Lewis, DSM magazine
2008 Artbuzz; 2008 Collection
2007 "Linda Lewis, Narrative Sculpture", Sculptural Pursuit ,Fall,
2006 "Thou art the best"-art category, 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.
Stateline Gallery; La Crosse, Ws.
Education
2009 Imaginative figures in clay, Janis Mars Wunderlich
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
.
2003-2006 Various ceramics classes through the DSM Art center,
Des Moines, Ia.
1989
Drake
University
, MSE
1975
Graceland
University
, BA
Born
1953 Vassar, Mi.
for the last 34 years has resided in West Des Moines, Iowa
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