Carl Owens was an American artist born in Detroit, Michigan in 1929.
Carl Owens is one of the great African-American artists of Detroit.
Carl Owens is best known as an illustrator, portrait artist and fine arts painter. One of his best known works is a mural of African-American history in the lobby of the Detroit Public Schools Center.
His professional experience in the Art began as an illustrator in the U.S. Army. Later, he taught art in the Detroit Public Schools and served as staff artist for the school system. He was a member of the National Conference of Artists and worked as a self-employed artist from 1968 until his death.
In addition to numerous private collections, his fine art has been on exhibition at: The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts; The Art Institute of Chicago; the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco; the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Cincinnati Art Museum; the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; the North American Black Historical Museum, Ontario, Canada; the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, Michigan; and the Detroit Historical Museum.
Carl Owens was an excellent example of someone who knew from an early age exactly why he was here. That kind of certainty added clarity to his life. From his point of view, he was here to make art not meet the expectations of others. I have no memory of him ever saying or doing anything that even remotely resembled self-doubt. To him, life was all about controlling the direction he moved in. He sought to simplify his life, reduce its’ bulk, build it for speed and travel light.
“Sisters of the Sun” and “Children of Eden” are two of Carl Owens most popular pieces. Read this article written by his son, Brian Owens, www.brianowensart.com/article2.html.
As he got older, he put limits on the number of hours he would work and with the exception of his Jaguar XJ8, curbed the desire for material possessions. He made a point of traveling abroad on a regular basis and reached out to younger African-American artists. Carl Owens collected the art of young artists that he wanted to encourage instead of the art of his peers. The older he grew, the more he smiled and the more he respected time. His goal: To have more disposable time and to enjoy the passage of time.
Carl Owens passed away December 11, 2002 at the age of 73.