Artist Biography
“I’ve been selling paintings for half a hundred years!”
Lawrence Lee has been a professional artist for more than fifty years. Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1947, he moved to Tucson as a boy and has painted the Southwest ever since. He holds a BFA (magna cum laude) and an MA from Northern Arizona University, taught high school art through the 1970s, and has painted full time since 1979.
His work is held in the permanent collections of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Eiteljorg Museum, and the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, along with thousands of private collections worldwide. In 2026, the Tucson Airport Authority acquired fourteen of his paintings for permanent installation. He is represented by Wilde Meyer Gallery, Sorrel Sky Gallery, and Turquoise Tortoise Gallery.
His children's book The Mirror (Harbinger House, 1989) is widely credited as the first children's book illustrated in color on a computer and output to film and paper. He is also the author of Living With an Impostor (2007), POEMS 2012, and A Field Guide to Dragons (2015).
He lives and paints in Tucson.
