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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 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 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 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 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 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’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 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 loves what he does and knows he’s doing
exactly what he was born to do.
Bill 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 and his wife, Valerie, live in Wickenburg, Arizona.
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