"An artist’s media are his colors plus his mind -(with these he interprets but never chooses)- for his material he uses only what the infallible pointer of his instinct gives him." - John Norton, Tom Lea's professor at the Chicago Art Institute in a letter, 1933

You can learn more about Tom Lea's philosophy of art in a brief essay he wrote about John W. Norton. 

​

​

Lea, T. (1931) John Norton in His Studio, Chicago [Watercolor sketch] 10 X 8. HRHC Art Collection, U.T. Austin. Copyright Catherine Lea Weeks.