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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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