Back to the drawing board

By Danielle Ameden
Metrowest Daily News, Framingham, Sunday, February 7, 2016


You wouldn't know George Lewis once had his own art gallery on Boston's Newbury Street, or that corporations such as Delta Airlines and Marriott Hotels snapped up his paintings.

He's a humble artist whose career took a back seat when he moved to Framingham 16 years ago and became a Town Meeting member and local activist.

Expanse, acrylic, 42"x54"

But with a new exhibition at Access Framingham's studios in Framingham Centre, Lewis is once again sharing his abstract works — some bright, some dark; some pastel, some acrylic – with the public.

Voyage, pastel

Lewis, 72, said it took a nudge from Francesca Cerutti-Harris, the station's assistant director, to get him to agree to a show.

“I knew in another life he had been an artist and I said, “You could hang your work here, we have an opening,’” Cerutti-Harris recalled. “He had to think about it a little bit.”

Lewis introduced his collection at a well-attended opening night on January 28. The exhibit remains up until March 15 at 4 Vernon St., open Wednesdays and Sundays from 4 to 7 p.m., and Thursdays and Fridays from noon to
4 p.m., or by appointment.

Light no.5, acrylic and sand, 36"x48"

(top left) Horizon Edge no.3, acrylic, 18"x18", (top right) At Dusk, acrylic, 18"x18",
(above left) Veil of Summer, acrylic, 18"x18", (above right) Passage, acrylic, 18"x18"

Lewis said he first got into art when he was studying piano and music education at New England Conservatory of Music and administrators approached him. “They asked if I would do some covers for their catalogs so I started working in pastels and it gave me the confidence to continue,” he said.

Former George Lewis Gallery at 20 Newbury Street, Boston

Lewis went on to open his own gallery with studio space in a coveted Boston location.

“This was my livelihood.” He said. “I started painting in the 1970s and I opened my gallery on Newbury Street in 1977 and was very successful selling my paintings around the country and various cities around the world.”

He said his works range up to 6 feet by 11 feet, and the “Usual size” is three by four.

He dabbles with different materials but likes to work primarily in acrylics, and his style has changed over the years to be less bright and colorful.

Lewis says his artwork is essentially abstract and has “kind of a mystical feeling where it’s a little hazy and quite a bit of depth.”

“I like to work with color and creating forms that appear to recede in the background or advance in the foreground,” he said.

Francesca Cerutti-Harris, Assistant Director of Access
Framingham with George Lewis

Cerutti-Harris said Lewis is a member of Access Framingham and seeing his talent blew her away. She said his collection is maybe the fifth to hang at the station’s new location.

“It’s very modern and it’s very different than anything we’ve had up so far,” Cerutti-Harris said. “It’s very interpretive and it’s interesting to see the different stages. He goes from being very colorful to being very dark.”

Lewis said he closed his Boston gallery after five years, not liking the feeling of being confined during the day. He stopped painting as much when he moved to Framingham in 2000 and got involved in local government, which absorbed all his time.

“I had kind of put my artwork to the side so a lot of people don’t really know that this is what I used to do,” Lewis said.

Garden, acrylic, 36"x48"

He suspects his fellow residents and Town Meeting members would be surprised to know that his paintings hang in banks, law firms and corporations around the country. Some came out to support him on the opening night of his exhibit.

He said the exhibit shows that he’s “not just an activist.”

But Framingham – and the Southside especially – are near and dear to his heart.

“I got really turned on to Framingham when I saw the potential,” he said.

He said he loves all the natural resources and long desired a connection from Farm Pond to downtown and a walking path through Cedar Woods, a project now coming to reality.

With his art exhibit now up, Lewis says he is going to search for other outlets for his work.

“I want to get back to painting and being creative,” he said.

(Highlight photo to enlarge)