THE ARTIST                          

Roosevelt Lewis - Creating art since childhood from various materials retrieved from a garbage dump. With no access to public libraries in his small segregated town, he had no ideal why art was so important in his life. Yet, it was as a child, when he often accompanied his godmother to work for a prominent white family, while she performed domestic work, the expensive library collection in the home occupied his mind and introduced him to the works of the likes of Monet, Rembrandt, and Picasso.

While in the U.S. Army, he traveled to France.  One day while strolling the street, he wandered into an art gallery filled with narrative African art which revealed stories of the motherland.  This inspired Lewis to tell the stories through his art about the people he remembered growing up on Cane River in Central Louisiana.

His paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in some of the most prestigious galleries throughout the Pacific Northwest, such as, Matter of Colors, Pratt Fine Arts Show, Northwest African American Fine Arts show, Sundiata African American Art Show and the African American Museum. 

As life would have it, he went on to find his place.  In college, his studies of Graphic Arts, Industrial Photography, proved to be a catalysis in developing his artistic focus.  He was commissioned to develop, design and implement site-specific installations for a water theme park in Seattle.

As a literary artist, he has written dialog for a theatre group, and has written a choreographed dance drama, performed locally.  He has written numerous articles for local newspapers, while his poems were turned into staged drama.

Never forgetting his roots, the Black, Cajun and Creole people of Central Louisiana remain the back drop for each of his pieces, whether painting or sculpting, his work defines their pain, joys and their struggles.