Lisa Towers

Lisa Towers is a classical realist oil painter who propounds the importance of working from life, of understanding the way light affects the subject, the importance of brushstroke technique, understanding historical influences in art, and of the necessity of a healthy painting environment. Towers grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and became interested in drawing as a child after an art teacher bestowed accolades upon her for a portrait she had drawn of him. She continued to foster her newfound skill…and no one escaped her pleas for a sitting! Although she loved drawing, at the time she considered it more of a hobby than a possible profession. She attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, to study pre-med and chose drawing classes as electives. It was apparent that she excelled at art over organic chemistry. After two years, she transferred to the University of Miami and majored in filmmaking with a minor in photojournalism. Upon graduating with honors, she worked in the film business producing TV commercials for several years. Towers married, started a family and moved back to Nashville, where she took up painting full-time. She focused on her talent by taking classes and workshops around the country. She has studied oil painting with David Leffel, as well as Gregg Kreut, and Michael Shane Neill. In 1997, Towers began teaching painting and drawing classes, first at Cheekwood’s Frist Learning Center in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1997-2001, and then at California Art Institute in Thousand Oaks, California from 2002-2011. In 2012, she moved to Dubuque, Iowa, and began teaching at the Dubuque Museum of Art. She is now adjunct teacher of art at Divine Word College in Epworth and teaches painting and drawing classes at Studio Works in Dubuque. Towers’ paintings have been exhibited in dozens of regional and local shows as well as national shows such as Oil Painters of America and Audubon Artists. Her paintings are in collections throughout the United States.