Lester Raymer, born in 1907, grew up on a farm just southwest of Alva, Oklahoma. Raymer worked with a variety of art forms beginning in his early grade school years and continuing throughout his artistic career. He received his bachelor's degree in art from the Art Institute of Chicago. From 1936 to 1945 Raymer lived on his family farm again and continued to develop his artwork. Raymer met Ramona Weddle at the Art Institute.
Ramona was born in 1909 at the Brunswick Hotel in Lindsborg, Kansas. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago during the same time period Raymer did. After her graduation in 1936, Ramona came back to Lindsborg and taught in the Art Department of Bethany College. In 1945, Lester and Ramona married and decided to create a home in Lindsborg. Although Ramona assisted Raymer with the pottery during their first years of marriage, she produced very little art of her own. Her focus was to be supportive of Raymer's work.
Raymer's art was influenced by a number of factors. The circus came to Alva often during Raymer's childhood. He worked for a poultry business where he did drawings and paintings in his spare time. The Bible was a source of imagery beginning in his childhood. Raymer's painting professor at the Chicago Art Institute was Boris Aslov from Russia, and his art history professor was Helen Gardner, author of Art Through the Ages. Raymer talked often of the great influence his trips to Mexico had on his artwork and his desire to remodel the studio in the style of a Mexican home.
Raymer won major awards and international recognition with his religious art work and liturgical commissions. He taught one year at Bethany College in the art department and then made his living from the sale of his artwork. Raymer utilized a variety of materials to produce a diverse body of artwork. The lamps, the candleholders, furniture, and many of the sculptures in the studio were made for the studio use, not to sell. His paintings were most significant to him. Raymer was a studio artist in Lindsborg until his death in 1991.
