Gary M. Owen
Artist Bio
G.M. Owen is from the middle Tennessee area; he is a self-taught painter with no formal training other than art classes in middle school. He started painting around the age of twelve years old, placing art in the annual juried art competition at the State Fair Art Show, and later joining a local art guild in his late teens. After high school, he was hired as a staff sign artist for the Coca-Cola Bottling company in Nashville, Tennessee, and later worked as a sign artist for trade show/expo companies working in the southeastern states. By the mid-eighties, the art of free-hand lettering was replaced by computers and wide-format printing. He re-entered tech school to study desktop publishing, and he has worked for the last 30 years as a graphic designer in the wine & spirits industry. He has always painted and placed art in venues, restaurants, and juried art shows along the way. His style of art ranges from portraits to still life fruit. He uses non-traditional oil paint which is an oil-based enamel and reflects back to paint he used as a sign artist painting billboards and walls for Coca-Cola company when he was younger.