Patsy Lewis-Gentry
Patsy Lewis-Gentry
Sautee Nacoochee, GA
264 Laurelwood
Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia 30571
1-706-878-4693
Email: patsygentry@alltel.net
Art Biographical Sketch:
Growing up on a farm in North Alabama, the inspiration for art was instilled in Patsy Lewis-Gentry early in childhood. It didn’t take long for Patsy to “get the itch to draw”. Taking a pencil in hand before she was five, Patsy would scribble for hours in the margins of her family’s hardback books (much to her mother’s dismay). There weren’t many publications that Patsy didn’t find a negative space to display her masterpieces: stick figures or lots of curves and squiggles.
On Sunday, after the family had returned from New Market Presbyterian Church in Alabama, paper bags became her canvas. A crayon was her pen. Patsy’s subject matter was the comic strips from the Huntsville Times. Even the red clay in the cotton fields on the farm became an ideal place to draw the images from nature’s wonders. With a tree branch she would find a way to vent her creative bent with this new found love for the arts by drawing in the dirt.
As years passed, mentors wove an intricate pattern from their artist talents in Patsy’s life by offering encouragement, a quick art lesson and an appreciation for the beauty of nature’s Creator. She credits her grandmother, Meneese Patterson Payne, an accomplished artist in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries, for her gift of painting and the love of art. Jim Harrison, her mentor, an accomplished nationally recognized Rural Americana painter and Coke Cola Artist encouraged her every step. A colorful backwoods, bearded wood-carver in the North Georgia Mountains, Frank Brown wouldn’t let her give up. There were special instructors like Tom Landriff, Orchid Davis, Robin Miltner, Jim Harrison, E. J. Ham, Robert Mills, Jean Scronce, Erica Hoyt, Ray Davenport, Bill Veasey, Granger McKoy and a host of other artist friends whose talents nurtured the development of Patsy’s artist skills. As Patsy painted, many people encouraged and touched her life. There was no mistake that one day her dreams would come true as to allow her to become an accomplished artist like those who carried the lantern before her lighting her way.
November 6, 1994, a dream came true for Patsy. Jim Harrison, her mentor and famed “Coke Cola” artist and Rural Americana painter invited her to participate with him in an art show at The Calhoun County Museum in South Carolina. Having just published, Barefoot-N-Cotton ™ and to have her art renderings from the book shown with Jim Harrison’s paintings was the ultimate dream come true. Exhibiting her work with the renowned artist that had encouraged her, Jim Harrison, this was the highlight of Patsy’s artistic career.
Since that day, Patsy Lewis-Gentry has exhibited her work throughout the Southeast: Florida; Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina. Her work hangs in private collectors’ homes, Air Force Bases and offices around the world. Patsy’s work has been distributed through two publications: Little Bales of Cotton and Carolina Cotton. Her art work hangs in selected galleries throughout the Southeast.
For years, she has donated her wildlife paintings and drawings to South Carolina’s Ducks Unlimited Chapter, Quail Unlimited and the Trout Unlimited Chapters. Auctioning off Patsy’s watercolors or drawings has raised thousands of dollars for wildlife preservation and management. She also donates her works of art to various other charities: Heart Society, The Leukemia Society, American Cancer Society, US Air Force and other chartable organizations.
For a decade the United States Air Force, particularly, the 9th Air Force and the 20th Fighter Wing located in Sumter, South Carolina have purchased hundreds of her original water colors. Many were for gifts for Generals’ and Officers’ families entering or leaving the Air Force Base upon Change of Command. The 9th Air Force used many of her original pieces of work as gifts for dignitaries from around the world. Patsy felt it an honor to paint for the families and men that fight for our country’s freedom in this unsettling world. To have been a part of this Air Force Community has been one of the most rewarding experiences of her lifetime. As an artist, her work could not have found a better home in support of these hero’s for democracy.
Throughout Patsy Lewis-Gentry-s’ artistic career she worked for Davis Printing Company as a Free Lance Artist, owned and operated Frames and Calico an Art Gallery and Frame Shop for twelve years. She has created numerous paintings for Interior Designers, became the director for a National Framing School, Carolina Framing School in Charlotte, NC, taught children’s art classes and has illustrated and written articles for newspapers, magazines and other publications. Published a book with her artist renderings (Barefoot-N-Cotton ™), calendars, coloring books, posters, prints, flyer’s, note cards, Video covers, designed T-shirts and more.
Recently, Patsy has produced a series of Fly Fishing prints and scenes of the Chattahoochee River in Georgia. The Orvis Company along with the Upper Chattahoochee Chapter of Trout Unlimited enlisted her services in the producing renderings of various Fly Fishing flies for the cover of a Fly Fishing CD. Subsequently, Patsy has shown and illustrated her art work at the Orvis Stores in Atlanta, GA., Bass Pro Shops and at the National Shallow Water Show at Gwinett Mall in Atlanta, GA. One man shows at the Bishopville Opera House, the Corinth, Mississippi Art Center, Cleveland, GA and other places throughout the south. Patsy’s work has been juried and is now shown at the Sautee Nachoochee Artist Center in North Georgia.
A passion for Pryrography, Patsy virtually has been self taught in this art form for twenty years. In June of 2006 she polished her pyrography skills by attending a course of study with renowned woodcarver and pyrography instructor, Orchid Davis. Subsequently, Patsy has taken pyrography (wood-burning) courses from John C. Campbell Folk School in Brass town, NC and Blue Ridge, GA. Since this turning point in Patsy’s pyrography career, she has progressed using color, thus bringing more realism and dept into her wildlife and nature subjects.
Patsy Lewis-Gentry’s works are diverse and “spans the gap” from watercolors, pen and ink, pencil sketches, glass etching, Pyrography to woodcarvings of ducks and butterflies or writing for various publications and is a staff writer for the Georgia Laurel Magazine. Whether working in wood carving a Coot or painting flowers, she continues to be humbled by the evolving learning experiences in art by observing the world around her.
“To be able to enjoy God’s handy-work in nature via a paintbrush while making the work come alive on paper, is one of the best gifts I could have ever received. Having people enjoy my work, realizing it hangs in offices and homes around the world or used to raise money for the good of mankind; these are my greatest blessings. The “itch to draw” comes from the humble roots of the country life where I was reared in North Alabama. The continuing polishing of my art work comes from the people that believe in me by directing my path with their own gifts of the arts and God’s magnificent handiwork from world of nature around me.” Patsy P. Lewis-Gentry
Brief Biography: Patsy P. Lewis-Gentry
Patsy P. Lewis-Gentry is married to Ray E. Gentry and is the mother of two children: John E. Lewis and Elizabeth Ashley Lewis Rubeiz, R. N. and grandmother to Savannah Ashley Rubeiz and Ray’s daughter’s children, Tripp Allen and Caroline Petrowski. Her work is created in the place she loves best, her home in the Appalachian Mountains. A sanctuary filled with antiques, paintings, family, and a dog named Spook and two cats named Toes and Fluff.
