Tom Lea Institute holds events to honor legendary local artist and writer

EL PASO, Texas - Each year, the Tom Lea Institute holds a Tom Lea Celebration, bringing fun and interesting events to the community, all centered around a central theme inspired by Tom Lea and his works.

"Tom Lea was arguably the best artist and writer to come ever from El Paso," commented Holly Cobb, Executive Director of the Tom Lea Institute during an interview on ABC-7 at 4. "He was of international repute. He could have lived anywhere in the world, but he chose El Paso because he loved this region. He portrayed it so wonderfully in his murals as well as his easel paintings and drawings and all sorts of things."

This year's Celebration theme is "Small Man in a Vast and Wondrous World" and focuses on the time the legendary artist spent in China between 1941 and 1945 while he was a war writer and illustrator with LIFE Magazine.

Among the upcoming events scheduled for the remainder of this year's celebration are a seminar at UTEP's Centennial Museum on Thursday, October 20th at 5:30 pm entitled "Tom Lea's China: The History, The Land and the People in his Paintings." UTEP faculty member Dr. Joshua Fan specializes in 20th century China with the UTEP History Department and will present history intertwined with Tom Lea’s personal experience in China as an artist correspondent between 1941 and 1945. In the early 1900s, Tom’s cousin, Homer Lea, was a military strategist for the Chinese Nationalist Army, whose name and influence opened doors for Tom when he arrived during a time of conflict and turmoil in 1943.

On Thursday, November 3rd at 5:30 pm at the El Paso Museum of Art downtown, Dr. Melissa Warak, an associate professor of art history at UTEP, discusses the Chinese influence on Lea's landscape paintings. That will be followed by a reception where two Mata Ortiz potters whose families immigrated to Mexico from China, will demonstrate their pottery-making skills.

A presentation on the remarkable history of the Chew family and the Chinese community in El Paso is the focus of a discussion by David and Linda Chew on Thursday, November 10th at 5:30 pm at the Hotel Indigo downtown. David Wellington Chew was an El Paso City council member and the first elected Asian American appellate justice in Texas, while his wife Linda Yee Chew, is the first lawyer of Chinese descent to serve as a District Court judge in El Paso. They will discuss how the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 affected their family and how the Chew Family’s third generation became some of the most prominent members of our community. 

To register for these events, and to learn about other events taking place during the Tom Lea Celebration, go to http://tomleainstitute.com/events.