UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 37, Page 2
July 22, 1993
Artist Jack Lewis recognized with Medal of Merit

     Artist Jack Lewis received the University of Delaware's Medal of Merit
at a reception at the Rehoboth Art League on July 9, which celebrated the
opening of the University's fifth annual Summer Arts Festival.
     Presented to Lewis by Robert Rider, a member of the University's Board
of Trustees, the Medal of Merit is awarded in recognition of contributions
to human progress primarily through sustained service to others in the
community, state and region.
     There have been 43 medals presented in the history of the program, and
recipients have included the renowned civic leader, the late Mrs. Henry B.
Du Pont, businessman Eugene di Sabatino, and most recently, state Rep. Jane
Maroney.
     Baltimore-born watercolorist Lewis holds bachelor's and master's
degrees from Rutgers University. He is a former teacher in the Caesar
Rodney School District and at Delaware Technical and Community College in
Georgetown. He is currently an instructor at Sussex Correctional
Institution and the Rehoboth Art League.
     Lewis came to Delaware as part of a youth unit of the Works Progress
Administration more than 60 years ago. His first paintings were a visual
diary of Depression-era life in Delaware. He has published several volumes
of his works, and his murals hang in the Delaware Trust Company and the
Bridgeville Library. In 1986, Lewis was commissioned to paint 10 large
murals for Legislative Hall in Dover.
     Lewis was the first recipient of the Governor's Awards for the Arts.
In 1987, the Rehoboth Art League honored him with a 200-work retrospective
and in 1989, Mr. Lewis was lauded by both the Woodbridge School District
and the Delaware Music School for his contributions to the arts.