2022 Scholarship Awardee

Renata Lucia

During the covid-19 pandemic, Renata Lucia became a Texas naturalist, joining the local chapters of the Texas Master Naturalists and the Native Plant Society of Texas, and obtaining employment in the state office of the later. The reconnection with nature and local ecological processes as well as the dread of on-going climate change are reflected in her art, including micro-habitat explorations, tree portraits, and the transfiguration of trees into packaging and paper. She primarily creates paintings, drawings, and prints.

Lucia worked as a classically-trained, professional violist in the 1980’s and ‘90s, followed by a career in technical writing. After a chondrosarcoma diagnosis in 2000, she took her first art class when she joined the Glassell School of Art, MFAH. She became the first trained artist in her family of outsider artists when she graduated there with a Painting specialization.

Her work has been featured twice in the periodical New American Paintings. Additionally, she was a resident artist at Houston’s Project Row Houses, and an award winner at both the a Lawndale Big Show (selected by Toby Kamps) and an Assistance League of Houston Celebrates Texas Art exhibition (selected by Anna Katz).

She lives in Houston, TX and works out of her home studio.