About Me

I use traditional materials to draw and paint, and currently study with landscape and marine painter Maris Platais of Carlisle, MA.

I started my artistic endeavors as a musician, earning my Bachelor of Arts degree in music. I then later complemented my education with additional classes and private study in acrylic painting, drawing, color theory, composition, and photography. I live and exhibit in the New England area.

I find that my style of painting is an improvisational experience, very much as in music. It allows me to visualize landscapes in my thought that frees me from what my eyes directly tell me. This restructuring of the subject and listening for ideas guides me throughout the painting, allowing me to find a vision that goes beyond the initial viewing of the subject matter. As ideas flow, the painting is shifting, and the final vision unfolds when I feel it is complete.

Deborah Santoro, curator of the Owen Smith Shuman Gallery in Groton writes:

Walking into a gallery full of Lewka’s paintings feels like a walk through the forest. Lewka captures the dappled glow of light through trees, of light reflecting off of water, with a delicate craftsmanship he has spent years perfecting. In “Shade and Light” a venerable pine tree stands in the foreground, heavy branches reaching toward the light over the water. The foliage behind is glowing in the early morning sunlight with the bright green of early Spring. The composition leads you from the tree in the left foreground on a roughly diagonal line toward the upper right part of the picture, into the darker wood, inviting the viewer to wonder what lies around the bend in the river.

“Into the Deep Woods” is a painting that marks the deliberate mastery of the tightrope path between abstraction and representation. Light enters from the upper left, filters through branches, paints a tree trunk with a warm glow, and lands on the path in a beautiful striated pattern. The contrast between the bright, warm tones of the path surface and the cooler, darker depths of the wood ahead create an interesting tension at the heart of the composition. The branches and leaves are painted with just enough detail to give you a specific sense of place, yet are also intriguing as a play of color and light.

“In Twilight” seems to be after a storm. Evergreen branches and twigs litter the forest floor, and a bright new light dawns from behind, lending a streak of snowy path the warm tones of early light. Last years dead deciduous leaves glow amber and ocher. In his statement, Cims writes “I call on my wandering imagination so that a sense of open spaces, shapes and unabashed sense of color come forward, letting the viewer in on my quiet and spiritual journey.” This painting can be seen as a metaphor for the light at the end of an internal storm.

Deborah Santoro

July, 2010

Juried Solo and Joint Shows:

Oct. 1 - Oct. 30th, 2011 - Solo show: "Sanctuary", Acton Memorial Library in Acton, MA.

June 23rd - Aug. 31st, 2011 - Solo show: "From Field to Forest", Hudson Town Hall in Hudson, MA.

May 1st - May 31st, 2011 - Solo show: "From Field to Forest", Concord Free

Public Library in Concord, MA.

Nov. 6th - Dec. 31st, 2010 - "Painting and HandWeaving", Gleason Library in Carlisle, MA. Joint show with handweaver artist Nancy Kronenberg of Carlisle, MA.

Oct. 3rd - Oct. 30th, 2010 - Solo show: Floral Arts of Westford Gallery in

Westford, MA.

July 3rd - Aug. 27th, 2010 - Solo show: "Shade and Light", Owen Smith

Shuman Gallery in Groton, MA.

May 1st - May 31st, 2009 - Solo show: Reuben Hoar Library in Littleton, MA.

Juried Group Shows:

2004 – 2010

Hudson Arts Alliance Spring and Fall Art Exhibits

2004

Amherst Art Show

2004, 2009

Westford Region Art Show