From David: 

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio to some really cool parents. I grew up happy and surrounded by beauty. In 1971, at the age of 14, my father, mother, two young sisters, and I set sail on the ocean liner Queen Anna Maria for Piraeus, Greece. We set up home in a small fishing village on the island of Crete for a year. It changed my life. Greek archaeology and mythology would hover over everything I did from then on. 

I majored in Classics at Oberlin College.  After the usual string of post college jobs (archaeological illustrator, gourmet food buyer for Bloomingdale’s New York, frame shop manager at the local Ben Franklin, etc.), I moved to the Pacific Northwest and Bainbridge Island to watch my two very young nephews grow up. After about two weeks, I realized I didn’t particularly like kids. 

From George:

I was born George Little in Fort Worth, Texas in 1944 to parents who loved gardening, picnicking in the woods, and cooking good food.  Mother, Wilma (a good old Texas name), enjoyed the arts of all kinds and so infused in me an enjoyment of the same. I began gardening at an early age, and painting in watercolors as a child. 

High school and college nearly killed me, but after schooling, I managed to forge an interest in concrete sculpture and water gardening. This led me into making fountains and columns as garden elements. I moved to Bainbridge Island in 1986 after renting a houseboat in Seattle with friends for vacation and falling in love with the Pacific Northwest. 

From Us:

We met soon after David moved to Bainbridge. We worked at a local bakery making morning coffee for the commuters. We started Little and Lewis in 1991 when we realized our common interests in gardening and art were a lot more fun and creative than making lattes. 

In our studio, carved out from our garage, we created works in concrete both for the garden and home for nearly 25 years. We learned to push the boundaries of color-washed concrete and helped gardeners, both home and professional, explore the use of color, semi-tropical plants and art in gardens. Our work became internationally known. 

At the height of our career we had between 3,000-5,000 visitors per summer season to our small garden and gallery on Bainbridge Island. Our book published by Timber Press, A Garden Gallery, won the Garden Writers of America Silver Medal in 2006. 

We spent 25 years creating concrete sculptures, fountains, paintings, and dabbling in some gardening. We retired 12 years ago, when George at 70, decided he had lifted his last 100 pound bag of cement. In 2009, George changed his last name from Little to Lewis. We were married July 20, 2013, and just celebrated our 35th anniversary together. 

We now spend our time giving back and volunteering to local non-profits as a way to give back to the community that has given so much to us. We are humbled, honored, and somewhat emotional at the collection of our work assembled for this show. Most of it is loaned by our collectors, and some is from our personal collection – a few favorites including the small fountain. 

As a visitor to our exhibit recently said so kindly, “We need this right now.” Enjoy.  

George and David Lewis