When exploring the creative works of St. Albert based artist, Lewis Lavoie, one can only begin to imagine the wonders that must inhabit the caverns of his rich imagination. His decades long career shows the evolution of an artist, whose work has ranged from bringing life to fantasy, to showing the beauty in real life. Each work is a story, an adventure even, laden with his genuine enthusiasm and reverence for life and community.
His faith, honesty, and generosity of spirit shine through in what Lewis creates, and is carried on through how he interacts with the community as an artist. He has a long history of community involvement through his art, for fund raising and promoting positive messages. If you’ve ever attended Edmonton’s Night of Artists, for example, you may have witnessed the sight to behold that is Lewis Lavoie, creating a live painting for auction and watched in wonder as random-seeming paint strokes took shape into something wonderful.
Humbly, Lewis states that he believes that the creativity and potential for artistic ability that lives in him, lives in us all and that it is our exposure, desire and dedication that brings forth the development of ability. Having grown up in a family environment where creative skills were celebrated meant that art was an acceptable thing for him to explore. Also, having struggled academically as a child due to dyslexia, there was particular focus on identifying what he could do and his demonstrated affinity for drawing was identified as his gift he should pursue.
A father and grandfather now, Lewis feels fortunate to still be able to do what he loves. His muse, he shares, is his wife. His supporter and most trusted critic, it is her approval he seeks most of all. “I honestly don’t care what anyone else thinks of my paintings sometimes. If she likes it,” he explains, “that’s all that really matters…and if she points out one or two things that’s wrong with it, it’s usually right.”
Lewis’s artwork includes his Land of Nod series, depicting a fantasy world from before the time of Noah’s Ark, where dinosaurs and humans coexist. These paintings show interactions between humans and dinosaurs, as though they are pets, livestock or wildlife, and Lewis manages to sell the fantasy authentically enough to seem plausible. Lewis has also illustrated a beautiful and inspiring children’s book series, Bellwether’s Message, by, author, Joyce Shafers. He has been commissioned to paint for royalty, Canadian political leaders, and celebrities. These days, Lewis’s focus has been on big art projects…the sort of art that is, more and more, becoming part of the permanent aesthetic environment, locally and across the country.
Artist of the Month
Lewis Lavoie