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In Search of the Himalayan Snowcock New Chapter and State Office Interactive Maps Changes Proposed for Wetlands Law New Web Documentary Explores Florida's St. Johns River Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon Launch New Version of eBird St. Johns River Alliance Fundraiser Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Named Gateway Site to Florida Birding Trail |
Florida Highwaymen Artist R. L. Lewis, Jr. Attends October MeetingBy Jason FrederickSCAS wishes to thank Florida Highwaymen Artist R. L. Lewis, Jr. for presenting a wonderful talk and painting demonstration at our October general meeting. I had the great pleasure of meeting and interviewing Mr. Robert L. Lewis, Jr. and his son Robert L Lewis III at their gallery in Cocoa Village. When I entered the gallery I was a little intimidated, as I had never interviewed anyone before, but was soon put at ease by a man who is just full of charisma. I really can't think of a better way of putting it. It was like when I was back in grade school and it was story time, but these were Mr. Lewis's life stories and not fairy tales. He told me how when he was a child, his mother taught him and his siblings to make their own toys and to create with their minds. The way the Indian River and Brevard County was his play ground as a child. I learned that when he was on the high school football team, he suffered an injury that kept him off the field for some time. While rehabbing from this injury, he was offered an art class. This is where he met Ms. Leisure, the woman that would become his art teacher and whose voice he still hears to this day telling him how to paint his creations. Ms. Leisure is also the person who introduced him to the Highwaymen artists in the way of an article about Harold Newton, another Highwaymen Artist. I was impressed about his career as an illustrator for Boeing and also an art teacher in Brevard County for 22 years. The man is amazing. If you are ever in Cocoa Village and have some time, stop by the gallery and you will be amazed. Every time I go there I find a new favorite painting or I see something new in a painting I have studied before. Robert L. Lewis III runs the gallery and will help to show you the beautiful creations that his father and other Highwaymen artists have captured in Florida's natural treasures of landscapes and wildlife. Visit the R. L. Lewis Art Gallery at 234 W. King St., Suite 150, Cocoa, FL 32922 in Cocoa Village. |