My wife, Linda, and I live in Lamar, Missouri where we maintain our primary studio and spend much of our time. My paintings are shown by about ten art dealers in the east and Midwest.

I was born and grew up in Lamar, Missouri. When I began college, I intended to pursue a degree in architectural engineering, I soon found myself more interested in the visual arts. After earning a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Arkansas in 1974, I took an art teaching position at Westmar College where I was Chairman of the Art Department for nine years.

While my MFA is in painting and drawing, much of my graduate research dealt with conceptual art and, in particular, the mechanisms artists might use to connect with the art viewer. My artistic interests changed dramatically over the nine years I taught at Westmar. Possibly because I found myself spending so much time in a basement office, my paintings evolved into an exploration of light and atmosphere and ideas associated with the landscape. I became particularly interested in the landscape as experienced from the highway, and features that suggested a demarcation between public and private space. More recently, I have been interested in the individual engaged by landscape and landscape as an expression of solitude.

In 1981 I took a sabbatical leave from Westmar. I had the good fortune to spend that Fall at Yaddo, an artist's colony in Saratoga Springs,
New York. My work there became more focused and it clarified my interests in landscape painting. I left Westmar and teaching for good in 1983 in order to concentrate on my painting full time. That is when we moved back to Lamar, Missouri where we continue to live.  We have a second residence and studio in Louisville, Kentucky where we spend about half our time.  My wife, Linda, retired a few years ago after 27 years as an elementary art teacher. She is also a working artist who shares studio space with me, and she organizes and manages business and logistical aspects of our studios and art business.

Our three children are adults now.  David lives in Kansas City where he is a carpentry contractor focusing on window, door, and detail restoration.  Melissa lives in New York where she is an archivist for the Metropolitan Art Museum.  Aja, our youngest, is an optometrist in Louisville.  Although Linda and I spend most of our time working in the studio, we enjoy traveling as much as possible with our children and our friends.

Gary R Bowling