LewAllen Galleries is pleased to announce that T. Allen Lawson has been selected as a finalist in the 2026 Almenara Art Prize, an international competition presented by The Almenara Collection that celebrates excellence in contemporary representational art.

Lawson is recognized with two works: Seeking Shelter, a sweeping oil on linen measuring 26 x 60 inches, and Cathedral de la Almudena, graphite and charcoal,

50 x 26 1/4 in. Together, the pieces show the range of an artist equally at home with the brush and the drawn line, and the quiet, contemplative sensibility that has long defined his practice.

Born and raised in Sheridan, Wyoming, and dividing his time between the American West and coastal Maine, Lawson is drawn to the quieter side of life. Through patient observation, he finds poetry in the often overlooked rhythms of his surroundings, from light falling across the side of a barn to the subtle tonal shifts of an open landscape, building layers of pigment to arrive at a nuanced depth that sits between realism and abstraction.

This latest honor joins a distinguished record of recognition, including the Prix de West Purchase Award and multiple Robert Lougheed Memorial Artists' Choice Awards at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, and the Founder's Prize from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts. In 2008, he was selected by the President and First Lady to create the painting for the official White House Christmas card. His work is held in public collections including the Denver Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, the Farnsworth Art Museum, and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.