Today we’d like to introduce you to Karla Lewis.
Hi Karla, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Born and raised in rural south Georgia during the 1980s, my parents—a welder turned draftsman and a seamstress—provided materials through the discards of their trade. High school solidified my passion, leading me to pursue art education at Valdosta State.
My twenties were marked by financial struggles that led to many failed attempts to finish my degree. I tried to supplement my income through various artistic ventures such as airbrushing and murals but struggled with burnout. After a major setback and a defeated move back to Mitchell County, I subconsciously took a major step away from art.
After many years of working hard to regain my footing, my now husband and I purchased our first home and had our oldest son in 2016. At this point, I was working in the court system and teaching fitness classes at a local gym. While my son was still young, I took over managing the fitness center and left a career in criminal justice. My hours were flexible, and I gradually started taking on pet portraits and other commission work. I started to volunteer with the local art council and to advocate for art in my area. During this time, I was making some originals, but the bulk of my work was in commissions. Though I was in a better situation financially then my 20s I was not to a place were I could afford to make a ton of art for myself. When I was offered an art teaching position at a local elementary school, I took it to be on my son’s schedule. I went back to school and finally completed my bachelor’s in 2020, earned a Master’s in art in 2022, gave birth to my 2nd son, and became a GaTAPP-certified teacher in 2023. I now teach high school at a Charter School.
Stepping away from commissioned work during the last few years have allowed room for experimentation. Teaching has provided financial security, enabling me to make mistakes or to make big leaps of faith in directions I couldn’t previously afford. Years of painting as an almost solely commission artist have given me the business sense to work proficiently and professionally, to market and manage myself as an artist and a business, and exponentially increased my technical knowledge and abilities. From poverty to stability, my art has evolved, and now I look forward to embarking on a new creative journey with newfound balance.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely not been smooth. I grew up the 2nd to the youngest of 9 kids. My family was exceedingly poor. I did have the benefit of my father having drafting paper to bring home, and we were always gifted boxes of crayons, but I had not been exposed to a world of art until college. My saving grace was a caring art teacher; I was a generally good student and had a natural gift for visual art. Art takes time, and as a person who always had to work multiple jobs to stay afloat, I could not afford the time to create the art I wanted to make. I loved college art classes, and I loved to create, but my twenties was a lot of moving from house to house and a lot of one foot forward and 10 feet back. When I started to have the time and the stability to create work, I was also stepping into my role as a mother with a career. Even now, I stay torn between my desire to paint and my responsibilities to this world. I can also be obsessive and will paint for 10+ hours at a time. It’s still a challenge to make art that is my voice and to make art that will sell. I feel closer to finding a middle ground, but I feel further from finding the time to create the ideas I have in my head.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I consider myself an artist, an art educator, and an art advocate. As an artist, I paint, I sculpt, and I create. I do pet portraits and live wedding paintings. My originals are a mixture of agricultural art and vibrant landscapes or snapshots of local landmarks. My ceramic works tend to be completely functional or extravagant experiments. I love the technical aspect of art. I love problem-solving.
Teaching is very important to me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for my high school art teacher. I had no direction and no passion until he put a paintbrush in my hand and made me paint. I spent four years of high school creating every day, and by the time I graduated, I knew that was what I wanted to do. I teach because I know there are kids who grew up like me in school now who should be provided the same exposure as a student in an influential and/or urban area. I take my students to art shows and museums in the hopes that they will continue to go to art shows and museums, and while there, they are able to view and understand the art and discuss it with other patrons. I also teach because I find joy in students who find joy in the work they create.
I advocate because there are so few artistic opportunities in rural communities. I see the towns around me struggle when I know the huge impact the arts have in small communities. I know that art education in schools all the way up through high school is our best chance to raise a generation of future voters who will appreciate and support the arts. I would love to continue my Master’s research and show the connection between art in schools and the prevalence of art in rural communities. How this in turn will impact the local economics and in turn the regional economics.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a very quiet child. I had a strong speech impediment and was terrified of speaking. Painfully shy is just scraping the surface of my childhood social anxiety. I spent the majority of my early years deep into books or hiding in the woods. I didn’t start really talking until I started working. As a kid with no real skill set or connections, I worked a lot of retail and food industry-type jobs. As a waitress, if you want to make money, you have to learn how to talk to your table. Making tips was often about needing gas money to get home or to buy necessities and pay rent. I would much rather make small talk with a table of strangers than have to ask someone to borrow money, so I forced myself to be a good waitress and to make eye contact and speak clearly. I was a good student and had decent grades but a crappy home life. By middle school, I was pretty angsty, and by high school, I was frustrated with the schoolwork. A lifetime of escapism through books meant I was way beyond my school’s curriculum, but we didn’t have all the college classes that students have now, so I struggled with teenage rebellion in a passive way. I had a handful of friends, many of which I still talk to daily, but I was no social butterfly. My 20s were more adventurous, and I was able to be less introverted, but I will forever cringe at the thought of making an outburst or bringing attention to myself. I still have heavy reading habits but I do mostly audio books so that I am able to paint while reading.
Pricing:
- Wedding paintings start at $1300
- Pet Portraits start at $300
Contact Info:
- Website: karlanoblelewis.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karlanoblelewis/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artistkarlanoblelewis/
