Tom Lewis: Capturing the impression

By Jacob Doran / Bigfork Eagle

Whether working with watercolors or oils, capturing impressions is what Tom Lewis strives for in every painting that he undertakes.

In fact, one of the most valuable lessons he learned as a painter came from a photography class he took in college, which he says taught him to see better than any art class. Photography, he realized, was purist in composition, as well as in the image that was captured—in a sense, frozen in time.

Understanding the importance of composing a picture to best capture the underlying impression and to convey that impression to the viewer has for decades given him the inspiration to compose his paintings in a similar way. As a result, he has learned to see in his subject much more than what first appears to the naked eye.

Choosing Bigfork as the place where he would retire and live out his artistic dream was not a difficult decision to make, since the area naturally lends itself to blending an art community with a setting ripe with inspiration and filled with the kind of impressions he most desired to capture and express in his works.

Although he spent much of his professional life in San Diego, Calif., Lewis knew well the appeal of the rugged west, having been raised on the Navajo Indian Reservation and spent his earlier years on cattle ranches in Colorado and New Mexico. Not surprisingly, he has always nurtured a love for western art.

In college, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with his emphasis in commercial art. He painted during and after college, exhibiting in galleries wherever he was able. Although he continued to paint and exhibit when the opportunity arose, Lewis says, "I basically laid my brush down for 40 years and started climbing the corporate ladder," finding in commercial art the stability necessary to raise his family.

From 1968-1972, he served as art director for two of San Diego's top advertising agencies, forming a full-service graphic design firm in 1973, which he headed for close to twenty years. In addition, he also ran a studio with 17 artists, from 1976-1993.

In the early 1990's, his two sons returned from college, ready to begin their own professional career. Seeing in this the opportunity to draw closer to them, Lewis decided to form a business that the three of them could run together.

Thus, in 1992, they formed Tehabi Books, a coffee table book publishing company based in San Diego. The company started out with Lewis, his wife, their two sons and two other individuals. However, in 12 years time, it had grown to more than 30 employees.

While Lewis found the work and time with his sons to be incredibly satisfying, he was ready both to retire and to begin another adventure after a productive career in graphic design. After the company's Christmas party, he and his wife left for Montana to spend the holidays with their daughter who was living in the Bigfork area.

Having visited Glacier Park prior to producing and publishing their book on national parks, Lewis had long felt a desire to return to Montana. Thus, after spending the holidays with his daughter and grandchildren, he and his wife decided to make Montana their permanent home.

Eventually, they noticed the house in which they now live, off of Grand Avenue, while staying at the Marina Cay and decided to look into the property. What they found was both a home and a gallery for Lewis' art.

They sold their home in San Diego and the publishing company was absorbed into a larger company. Lewis was ready to pursue his next adventure and lifelong dream, that of producing his own art.

For the next three years, he painted enthusiastically to build his selection of works and get in more hours with his brush. During that time he added oil painting to his long cherished watercolor techniques, finding an equal appeal in using the oils as a medium.

Some of his works were shown in area museums and other exhibitions, but Lewis felt that the view from his balcony would make a perfect place to exhibit his work. Thus, the idea of having a deck show in conjunction with the Bigfork Festival of Arts was born.

That first August, 750 people passed through his home in two days to view his art on the deck of his home and gallery. Though he describes the experience as, "a bit overwhelming," the show was an obvious success and has continued to coincide with the Festival of Arts ever since. Lewis even added a holiday show for the winter.

To gain exposure during the rest of the year, he advertises with various art magazines and opens his gallery by appointment. Today, he focuses primarily on painting Montana's landscapes but also incorporates Western art, fish and fly-fishing for which he has a market among both local and visiting anglers.

"I have become intimately acquainted with the American West's picturesque landscape and heritage," Lewis says. "That experience is expressed in scenes of the Southwestern desert and Northwestern mountain landscapes."

Although he utilizes a number of sources in his painting, he still prefers to employ the secrets he learned in his college photography class, finding subjects and scenes that leave an impression on him and attempting to capture that impression in his art.

Whether painting in Glacier Park during the warmer months or from a photograph that he has taken to preserve the scene and help him recall the impression in detail, he enjoys the freedom to be as expressive and creative as he chooses, using both water colors and oils to paint, either with detail or with bold, colorful strokes that reveal the more impressionist side of his soul.