KEN CARLSON Ken Carlson was born and raised in Minnesota. Following art school training, he began his career as a commercial illustrator in Minneapolis. While earning a living as a commercial artist, Ken devoted his free time to sketching, painting, photographing and researching his primary interest: wildlife and nature subjects. In 1966, he moved to San Francisco where he spent several more years as a free-lance illustrator before putting aside all commercial work to devote full time to painting wildlife subjects. Carlson moved from California to live for five years in the Rocky Mountains of Montana and now resides in the picturesque hill country of central Texas. A dedicated conservationist, Ken participates in several fund raising efforts each year. In 1994 Collectors Covey of Dallas, Texas, published From the Tundra to Texas: The Art of Ken Carlson. Included are more than one hundred paintings and sketches, with text by author Tom Davis, who described Carlson's work as "an eloquent testimony to the fact that he transcended the boundaries of genre painting." In 2001 Carlson was the recipient of the inaugural Major General and Mrs. Don Pittman wildlife award for exceptional artistic merit for wildlife painting at the Prix de West, Exhibition, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. At the 1999 Prix de West Exhibition, Carlson was the winner of the prestigious Frederick Remington Award for artistic merit. He was awarded the Distinguished Wildlife Artist at the 1996 Wildlife Exhibit at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum, Wausaw, Wisconsin. |
Russell Fink Gallery |