Bill Owen
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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