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Bill Owen
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Bill Owen was born in 1942 in Gila Bend, Arizona, to a father who had
been a cowboy throughout the early 1900's and a mother who was and is an
artist. These early influences shaped his desire to be an artist, and
cultivated his interest in the cowboy lifestyle.
Bill Owen has exhibited at the Whitney Museum in Cody, Wyoming, the
Grand Palais in Paris, France, and at the Western Art Show in Beijing,
China. In 1991 Bill Owen was voted into the National Academy of Western
Artists, and in 1993 became a member and staff artist of Rancheros
Visitadores; and that same year he was awarded the Frederic Remington
Award for Artistic Merit by the Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 1996 the
prestigious Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma honored Bill Owen as
their Rendezvous Artist. At the 2003 Prix de West Invitational Show, he
became the first recipient of Express Ranches Great American Cowboy
Award. Inducted into the Cowboy Artists of America in 1973, Bill Owen
has earned a total of 26 medals and awards at the annual show. In 2003,
his 30th year with CAA, he was extremely honored to receive the CA
Award. The coveted award is decided by a vote of the CAA members for the
best overall exhibition, so the nod of approval from his peers made it
even more meaningful.
In 1989, while practicing for a rodeo, Bill Owen survived a freak
accident, which resulted in the loss of sight in his right eye. He does
not consider this to be a handicap and has overcome the limitations
caused by the loss of depth perception; successfully resuming sculpting
in 2002.
For all of Bill Owen’s artistic achievements, he is especially proud of
The Arizona Cowpuncher’s Scholarship Organization, which he founded in
1995 to help finance college educations for young people from Arizona
ranching families.
It’s important to Bill Owen that he creates his art by utilizing sound
artistic qualities and he’s passionate that each piece be completely
accurate and authentic in its portrayal. A self-taught artist, he has a
thirst for knowledge that will never be quenched, and is incapable of
allowing himself to be satisfied with his accomplishments; constantly
striving to learn more about composition, color and design. He thrives
on challenges, and each milestone energizes him; keeping each piece of
art he sets out to create, new, exciting and stimulating. Bill Owen
loves what he does and knows he’s doing exactly what he was born to do.
Bill Owen has been elected President of the Cowboy Artists of America,
which was formed in 1965 to perpetuate the memory and culture of the
West in the tradition of the late Frederic Remington and Charles
Russell. The CAA strives to ensure authentic representatives of the life
of the West and to maintain standards of quality in contemporary Western
Art.
Bill Owen and his wife, Valerie, live in Wickenburg, Arizona. |
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