Houston LLew Works

I started enameling in a poorly constructed leaning garage in Atlanta.  I was unemployed in the middle of the great recession during a record breaking hot summer.  Through fortuitous circumstances, I befriended the master enamelist Zingaro, I shadowed the artist around his studio until he gave me the keys to enameling that would later evolve into my first works - Spiritiles.

For months I spent every waking hour over a kiln, experimenting, sketching, living on only "ramen and beer".  The only reason my art exists today is because I had no other option - no job to fall back on, no security other than what I could create myself. Tenacity keeps me going.  When one thing doesn’t work, step back, retool, and try a new path.

I love spitballing ideas and trying seemingly crazy things just to see if they work. By harnessing that constant experimentation, art evolves.  That’s how it’s possible to create a dueling form  of enameled imagery and with bending stories and quotes out of context into something entirely new…

I call it “design” but it’s something unnamed. 

What pushes me forward is the uplifting thoughts and musings. This is the cornerstone of my work- creating art that uplifts, and brings a hopeful connection to life.

- houston