The Frances Lewis Art Scholarship

This is an article that I've submitted to several newspapers and organizations asking for support in promoting the sale of prints from my mother's oil paintings.  Any help at all in helping us promote the site would be greatly appreciated.

 

The family of Frances Lewis (1938-2011) has made available prints of her oil paintings.  Frances’ talent with canvas is well known throughout our community.  She won many 1^st and 2^nd place ribbons with her art in our local county fairs.  Many people have desired to own one of her works of art; however, she never had them for sale to the public except for one private, invitation-only event several years ago.  Friends and family were often gifted with one of her paintings and now, with her passing, those have become treasured items.

After continued requests by friends and associates for one of her paintings after her death in 2011 from pancreatic cancer, her son, James Lewis Jr., took on the project of having prints made of most of her paintings several months ago.  These prints are now available to purchase directly from his website, Piney River Enterprises, Inc. at http://www.alewisenterprise.com/franceslewisart.html.  There is a company working with them, behind the scene, that offers the prints in a variety of sizes and styles.  There are currently 37 different prints to choose from, with more being added.  The cost starts at $22.00 for most prints and increases depending on the style and size ordered, with options for matting and framing.  The styles include a metal print, acrylic, and canvas prints. There is also an option to have the prints made into cards.

Frances worked mostly with oils, often sitting up on location for some of her most beautiful paintings.  Each painting has a story and most are actual locations that Frances and her husband, James, along with their children, James, Ray Lewis, and Deborah Boutwell, traveled to.  The stories behind the paintings are also listed with each print’s information.  Frances painted mountain ranges, country roads, adobe homes, florals, trains, and wagons, all scenic views found in Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, Texas and Tennessee.  Locally, there are prints of her depictions of an old barn on the late Joe Shipp’s farm and the Pinewood Mansion.

Because of Frances’ love of art, the family has set up the Frances Lewis Art Scholarship which will be granted to a senior graduating from Hickman County High School.  The proceeds the family receives from the sale of the prints will all go toward this scholarship.  The specifics of the scholarship are still being worked out, however they hope by 2015 there will be enough money received to grant the first of many scholarships.

A selection of prints will be for sale at the homes of James Lewis Jr. and Deborah Boutwell during the Arts & Ag Tour, May 23-24.  They are stops numbers 26 & 27 on the tour guide in the Pinewood community.