Bill Owen was born in 1942 in Gila Bend, Arizona to a mother who was an artist and a father who had been a cowboy throughout the early 1900s. These influences shaped his desire to be an artist and cultivated his interest in the cowboy lifestyle.
Inducted into the Cowboy Artists of America in 1973, Bill has served as CAA President three times and has earned numerous medals and awards at the annual show, including the CAA Award three times. This highly coveted award is decided by a vote of the active CAA members for the best overall exhibition.
In 1989, while practicing for a rodeo, Bill survived a freak accident that resulted in the loss of sight in his right eye, affecting his depth perception and forcing him to give up sculpting. He never allowed himself to consider this loss a handicap but greatly missed the medium for thirteen years, 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.
Fine Art Giclée Reproductions of select paintings by Bill Owen are offered on his website. Most of Bill’s original art pieces are created to satisfy a commitment made to participate in a show or auction and there is a waiting list for any available originals. Therefore, he rarely places art other than his sculpture in galleries. Two galleries carrying his sculptures are the Claggett/Rey Gallery in Vail, CO and the Trailside Gallery in Jackson Hole, WY. Bill’s art may be found in galleries from time to time as pieces become available on the secondary market, which sometimes happens when someone inherits a piece of Bill’s art and decide to sell it.
When Bill was just starting out, he usually put a date and the S Slash V brand (an old family brand that belonged to Bill’s Uncle) in the area where he signed the piece. When you find a piece signed in this way, it’s a very early piece and was created prior to Bill becoming a member of the Cowboy Artists of America. After 1973, he quit using the S Slash V brand and began putting the CA brand on his art.
To this day, he continues to date his pieces because he wants it known if something is an early piece or one he did farther into his career.
Bill’s greatest accomplishments and proudest moments are realized when a true cowboy looks at one of his pieces and says, “That’s exactly the way it is!”
Bill and his wife, Valerie, live in Kirkland, Arizona.
www.BillOwenCA.com
www.CowboyArtistsOfAmerica.com
