Show Preview | Laura Lewis

Houston, TX
William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art, November 10-December 2

Laura Lewis, Prairie Fire, oil, 18 x 30.

Laura Lewis, Prairie Fire, oil, 18 x 30.

This story was featured in the November 2017 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2017 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

After Laura Lewis married in 1993, she and her husband spent their honeymoon driving through national parks across the West. “I was so overwhelmed with the beauty and the space,” she says. Lewis, who began her art career painting portrait commissions, soon fell in love with those same qualities in West Texas and all it had to offer as subject matter. “I have an affection for that imagery and an appreciation of the richness and bounty of the land,” Lewis says. “There is some ugliness, and people disparage the area, but there’s real value and resources in it.”

Lewis’ love for rural areas is the focus of her first solo exhibition at William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art. The show kicks off on Saturday, November 11, with an artist’s talk at 4:30 p.m., followed by a reception from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The show features about 35 pieces depicting broad landscapes, farming implements, and agricultural business.

A noteworthy piece in the show is a maquette of the mural Lewis completed for the new Chevron Corporation campus in Midland, TX, last year. The mural, titled STRONG FOUNDATIONS, consists of five panels that depict various aspects of the oil industry. Lewis says completing the project affected her creative process for the better. “I have gained a fearlessness of just starting and attacking whatever I have decided to do without hesitation,” she says. Sarah Foltz, director of the gallery, says the show signifies Lewis’ return to the gallery. “After being on hiatus for the past year and a half for this mural, this show is really her big re-introduction to painting full time for us,” she says.

Foltz says she is excited about some of the newer work in the show, including more intimate, abstracted pieces that examine the way rivulets of water carve patterns in the clay earth near Lewis’ home. “I was fascinated by them, and they’ve forced me to let go of the horizon I’m used to and just focus on the patterns and reflections,” Lewis says. “They are very different because they are realistic paintings that seem to border on abstraction.” The show remains on display through December 2.
—Mackenzie McCreary

contact information
713.521.7500
www.reavesart.com

This story was featured in the November 2017 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2017 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

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