LEE JAMISON (b. 1957)

As a very young child, Lee Jamison developed an interest for art. He started drawing as soon as he could hold something to make a mark with. He recalls beginning to paint around eight years of age and he was constantly involved in art classes through high school. He chose to major in art at Lon Morris College, a small Methodist junior college in Jacksonville, Texas, and completed his degree at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Jamison feels that drawing is a form of expression, similar to writing, and he simply expresses things he knows through his art. He enjoys working in series which are often rich with historical influence. While he has no set process for creating a work, he describes his paintings as ideas vaguely bubbling up from below. His historical works always begin with a recorded event but the potential connection of historical occurrences to modern-day issues drive him to create pieces compelling to the viewer. Essentially, Jamison’s artwork is his own historical explorations.

Since 1982, Jamison has been a full-time artist. He is known for three major specialties: landscapes in oils (particularly of East and Central Texas), large murals, and historical paintings. His landscapes have been the mainstay of a career spanning a quarter of a century. His mural projects have included major works for the Driskill Hotel in Austin and The University of Texas at Austin. His historical works draw on his knowledge of Texas history and include numerous works on the Texas revolution.

Selected Biographical and Career Highlights

1957 Born in Shreveport, Louisiana

1977 AA, Art, Lon Morris College, Jacksonville, Texas

1979 BA, Art, Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, Louisiana

2011 The Sam Houston Project, produced nine credited works for combination documentary

film and website on the life of Sam Houston

2021 Ode to East Texas: The Art of Lee Jamison, published by Texas A&M University Press

Resides in Huntsville, Texas

Selected Exhibitions

2008 The Texas Aesthetic, Annual Exhibition, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2010 Huntsville by Artificial Light, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas

2010 Water Rites: Rivers, Lakes, and Streams in Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2010 The Presence of Light: Sky and Light in the Texas Landscape, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2012 Contemporary Texas Regionalists, traveled: Haley Memorial Library & History Center, Midland; Gage Hotel, Marathon, Texas

2013 Restless Heart: Contemporary Texas Regionalism, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas (catalogue)

2013 Celebrating the Regionalist Legacy in Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts at the Gage Hotel, Marathon, Texas

2013 A Tribute to Texas Rivers, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2013 Hill Country Love Affair: Interpretations of a Texas Heartland, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2013 Summer Encore Exhibition, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2013 Holidays at the Haley, Haley Memorial Library & History Center, Midland, Texas

2014 Painting in the Texas Tradition, traveled: Turner House, Dallas; Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, Spring, Texas (catalogue)

2014 Intersecting Plains: Views of the Texas Coast & Texas Drought, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2014 Holiday Show featuring the Contemporary Texas Regionalists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2015 Ties that Bind: Contemporary Texas Regionalism, Turner House, Dallas, Texas

2015 Texas Visions: Contemporary Texas Regionalism, Nave Museum, Victoria, Texas

2016 Contemporary Texas Regionalism: A Holiday Show, William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2016 The Texas Aesthetic, Annual Exhibition, William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2017 Of Texas Rivers and Texas Art, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas; Texas Capitol Ground Floor Rotunda, Austin, Texas; Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (book by same title published by Texas A&M Press)

2017 AS IS rural realism, The Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas

2017 Lone Star Legacies in Contemporary Texas Art, Haley Memorial Library & History Center, Midland, Texas

2017 Contemporary Texas Regionalism: A Holiday Show, William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2017 An Artist's Response to Harvey-In Real Time, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas

2017 The Texas Aesthetic XI, William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Gallery, Houston, Texas

2018 Solo, Lee Jamison: Ode to East Texas, William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Gallery, Houston, Texas

2018 Texas Aesthetic XII, William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Gallery, Houston, Texas

2019 The Texas Aesthetic: Thirty Contemporary Artists Redefining Texas Art, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2020 The Texas Aesthetic, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2020-22 Ode to East Texas: The Art of Lee Jamison, Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas; Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas(traveling exhibition)

Selected Public Commissions

· Bastrop County History Mural, Bastrop, Texas

· Driskill Hotel Ballroom, Austin, Texas

· Elgin Community Mural, Elgin, Texas

· Kellogg-Pritchett House, Huntsville, Texas

· Mayborn Museum Complex, (numerous murals and dioramas, significant work on installation of the museum, and work on development of the Emergence of Man Gallery), Baylor University, Waco, Texas

· Scott E. Johnson Memorial Mural, Huntsville, Texas

· Texas Memorial Stadium, University of Texas at Austin, Texas

· Waco Mammoth Site Murals, Waco, Texas

· Walker County Storm Shelter Mural, Huntsville, Texas

· Seven Days of Creation, First United Methodist Church, Huntsville, Texas

Selected Public Collections

· Bastrop County Historical Association Museum, Bastrop, Texas

· Lon Morris College, Jacksonville, Texas

· First National Bank of Texas, Crockett, Texas

· City of Huntsville, Texas

· Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas

· Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, Louisiana

· Commercial National Bank of Shreveport, Shreveport, Louisiana (acquired by and now

operating as Regions Bank)

· First National Bank of Bastrop, Bastrop, Texas

Lee Jamison

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