2015 Members' Exhibit Award Winner: Jeff Owens

The Riverside Art Museum is proud to continue an ongoing series of mini-exhibition features highlighting artist-members who have received awards in previous Members’ Exhibitions. Jeff Owens was an honorable mention winner back in 2015.

"The works on display are from the late 1960s to roughly 1980. I started teaching in 1966 and started trying my hand at "serious art" at about the same time. Challenged by the works of Andrew Wyeth that I came across in a Time magazine, I wanted to see if I could create works in a similar style. I just went at it and kind of figured things out as I went. I began to enter juried art exhibits to get some idea of how my creations would be received. I began winning awards and getting a lot of interest in my art. I worked primarily in oils, acrylics, and watercolor, along with doing a lot of pencil drawing. By the end of the ‘70s my subject matter and style began to change and watercolor became my primary medium due to the shortage of art time because of the increased demands of work (teaching) and family.

"Almost all the subject matter in these early works were in or near the Redlands area. Several of the works were created from drawings I made when my wife and I would visit her family's farm in northern Florida. The farm was run by her three uncles (brothers) and her aunt who were all in their 80s at the time!! It was an amazing place that was stuck back in time. It was a wealth of subject matter for an artist!!"

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website