amusement of fans at home. In 2006 the French Minister of Culture awarded him the Legion d'Honneur, saying he was the 'French people's favorite clown."

Throughout his career, Lewis worked ceaselessly to raise funds for muscular dystrophy and was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

He was married twice, to Patti Palmer from 1944 until 1980 and to SanDee Pitnick from 1983 until his death. He had five surviving sons from his first marriage (a sixth died) and a daughter from his second.Curator and artist Cary Smith speaks to a crowd of people at the opening reception. Photo by Nick Artymiak.

NEW BRITAIN, CONN.- This Ones Optimistic: Pincushion features the paintings, drawings, and wall constructions of 40 of Americas leading contemporary artists (from emerging to well established), whose work leans heavily toward abstraction. Many of the artists have several pieces in the show and the selections are hung salon style, in one room. The experience, says curator Cary Smith, will be a rich, dense, complex visual array of many different sorts of abstraction, all mashed up, but ultimately living well together. The goal of each artwork is to challenge, push limits, and not be immediately easy to understand, while still being smart, warm, human, and optimistic.

This Ones Optimistic: Pincushion includes varied