"Oglala Lakota" Painting

Lane DeWitt was born in 1956 in Phoenix Arizona and raised in New Mexico. He comes from a long line of cattlemen with family roots in New Mexico and Texas. One of his Great Grandfathers fought in the Civil war and was a Medal of Honor recipient; the other, was a trail boss who drove cattle on the Chisholm trail to the stockyards in Fort Worth Texas. Lane's Grandfather owned a Saloon in Phoenix Arizona with a pool hall in the front and gambling in the back to support the family thru the great depression. His other Grandfather Ralph Wells was a rancher in Oklahoma and an original founder of Navajo Missions, a charitable organization in Farmington NM that raises orphaned Navajo children in a Christian environment and provides them with a home and an education. His early artistic influences were his mother Florene DeWitt, a landscape artist, and his aunt Pat DeWitt, a prominent Arizona watercolorist. On weekends the family could be found exploring the pueblos of New Mexico or visiting friends on the Navajo reservation. Summers were spent on Grandfathers ranch in Oklahoma or at Navajo Mission in Farmington NM. While his grandparents were working, Lane would spend the day playing with the Navajo kids by the Animas river behind the mission. Growing up alongside American Indian kids instilled a deep respect for their culture, heritage and traditions. Thru art classes in high school in Albuquerque NM studying painting and sculpture, he found his calling, a passion in fine art. A neighbor near the family's summer home outside Durango Colorado, the renowned western artist Oleg Stavrowsky, became Lane's friend and mentor. Lane was classically trained at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme Connecticut in painting and sculpture. Additionally, he completed three years of private studies under the school's founder Elizabeth Gordon Chandler in portraiture. He is married to wife Debra and living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Most weekends are spent sketching and photographing American Indian gatherings, then during the week working on paintings in his studio. The nature of Lane's work is figurative and portraiture of American Indians with a bold use of color and texture.

<br>
Twitter@lanedewitt