Born in Rollis, Minnesota, the Colorist Edward R. Lewis enjoyed a long career as a painter, prolific in watercolor, oil and acrylic. He also dedicated his life to teaching the arts and spent the majority of his artistic career as an art professor holding positions at Sioux Falls College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and at Central Missouri State University (now University of Central Missouri) in Warrensburg, Missouri. His vibrant canvases often ask the viewer to make a quantum leap in perception, as his colors are the vehicle by which he describes light and space.

Lewis began his studies at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, as well as the Minneapolis School of Art and the Walker Art Center before he was called to the Army to fight f...