Stephen Lucas An Artist's Artist -part 2

WATCH Stephen Lucas' An Artist's Artist [4:21-minute video] After graduating from Santa Monica High School, Stephen Lucas set out with a clear determination to dedicate his life to making art. In 1979, he moved from Malibu, California, to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he launched his art career while working as a picture framer and salesman at the Casell Gallery on Royal Street in the French Quarter. Before long, he established his own print and framing business. At age 21, he dissolved the business to return to his father’s home in Malibu. He resumed his education at Ventura College, where he met abstract painter Wesley E. Johnson. It was instructor Ellis Jump, however, who provided the guidance and environment that inspired Stephen to paint an interpretive landscape—a work that ultimately earned him the college’s Purchase Award. While practicing printmaking and painting at Ventura College, Stephen met fellow student Marilee Cananga, co-owner of Cananga Associates. That summer, she invited him to work as a fabricator for Jim Henson’s Muppets to help prepare for the national touring production of The Muppet Show on Tour. Continuing to develop his work, Stephen entered a local art competition with a diptych titled Me in Two Views. The piece earned him a solo exhibition at The Ojai Art Center in Ojai, California. During this period, he focused heavily on drawing, practicing blind contour techniques and exploring abstract composition. In 1988, Stephen spent six weeks in Europe with his family—his mother, stepdad Jack, and brother John—touring through Germany, France, the Netherlands, and England. That same year, Wes Johnson encouraged Stephen to open a studio near his own on Ventura Avenue in Ventura, California. Inspired by the opportunity, Stephen signed a lease to work alongside Wes and other professional artists. Stephen’s studio was adjacent to a local tattoo artist named "Tip." The two developed a friendship, and Stephen traded a small original painting for a tattoo of a wolf on his upper left shoulder—a symbol representing the untamed recluse prioritizing art above worldly distractions. As his work expanded, he relocated his studio around the corner to Simpson Street to acquire the space necessary for painting larger canvases. Driven by a desire to live in Venice Beach, California, Stephen relocated to the area, working part-time as a driver while creating art on speculation to exhibit and sell. In 1992, he met Debra Algien, and the two were married in Colorado in the summer of 1993. Together, they built an art business—taking custom commissions, exhibiting in upscale furniture showrooms, participating in group shows, and selling prints at outdoor art fairs while building relationships with collectors and industry influencers. Stephen was later introduced to Art-Pic, a North Hollywood gallery specializing in renting artwork to set designers for major television and film productions. Through a community gathering in Pacific Palisades, Stephen and Debra also met Vicki Light, who actively helped promote his artistic work. In 2015, Debra and Stephen moved from Los Angeles to the island of Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi. Since arriving, Stephen has actively volunteered and exhibited at the Kauaʻi Society of Artists Gallery in Lihu'e. He credits life on Kauaʻi with breathing new creative life into his painting practice. Today, Stephen continues to document and share his painting process online through video demonstrations on YouTube @StephenLucasArt.