Lake spent his junior year of college teaching English at the Sorbonne. When the riots of 1968 closed the school, he studied art on the Left Bank. He returned to the University of Colorado at Boulder to complete his English degree in 1970. Later, while he was teaching English in Paris on a Fulbright scholarship, he studied printmaking at the École des Beaux Arts. He also studied with Claude Schurr at the Académie Julian, with S. W. Hayter at the Atelier 17, and with Gustave Singier at the École Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts. While in Paris, Lake became interested in classical drawing, but no instruction was available there due to the emphasis on modern art. A colleague suggested that he study with Alvin Gittins who was teaching nineteenth-century drawing and portraiture at the University of Utah. Lake received his MFA in painting from the University in 1977.

Lake paints his subjects from life, not from photographs. He puts layers of wet paint over layers of wet paint to create his still-lifes, portraits, and landscapes. Examples of his work are Pewter Mug with Apples, Desert Floor, The Cross Country Skier, Rooster Teacup, and A Painter’s Desk. Lake’s work is held in local and national collections.

Biographical information on this page was adapted from Artists of Utah.