The Official gallery of Ken Ottinger, Master Artist. Sign up for online classes, purchase prints, je However, his education didn't stop there.
Ken's professional art career began over thirty years ago in 1968 when he graduated with a BFA from the prestigious, Art Center College of Design, in Los Angeles, California. At that time, he became a highly successful, multiple national and international award winning free-lance illustrator for Motor Trend Magazine, Universal Studios, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and the U.S. Air
Force Documentary Art Program which took him to Europe to fulfill assignments in Germany and Spain. Ken became recognized as one of the nation’s authorities on the Plains Indians when his lifelong study was acknowledged in the mid 1970's with an invitation to be Artist Instructor in Residence at the University of South Dakota at Vermilion. He had a one man show in the Oscar Howe Gallery on campus where he lectured on the material culture of the Plains Indian and gave sculpture demonstrations. His sculptural art depicts historically accurate figurative subjects created with rich sensitivity. Over Ken's long and productive career he has had the opportunity to study the cultures and wildlife of The America's and can be found quite often observing the flora and fauna in the great northwest, especially Wyoming and Montana, where he lived deep in the mountains for a time. When Ken wasn't busy in his studio in Sedona, Arizona creating his fine art, he was usually on the road studying the wildlife of Jackson Hole or the red eyed tree frogs in Southern Mexico. Ken's family has lived in Arizona since 1945 and Ken has lived in Arizona for twenty years. At the inception of his career, Ken became aware of his desire to teach others. He has found time to share his talents with students in many venues from his college alma mater, and the University of South Dakota at Vermilion, to Sedona Art Center. His passion , enthusiasm, and vast knowledge of art are nowhere more evident than when he is sharing it with his students. Ken has devoted his life to creating objects of art. Now he is devoting his sensitive talent to the art of sculptural jewelry as well. For centuries, jewelry created in precious metals has put a sparkle in people’s eyes. Ken's jewelry adds new dimensions to this statement because of the unique quality he imparts to each and every piece he creates. The soft sensual curves and magnificent detail are a joy to behold again and again. Among Ken's notable collectors and clients are Bob Hope, Nancy Sinatra, Danny Thomas, Henry Mancini, Ann Miller, Eddie Basha, Zandra Ralph, Robert Redford just to name a few. In 1993 he was commissioned by the United States Historical Society to do a series of sculptures commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Normandy Invasion. In 1994 the Phoenix Zoo commissioned Ken to create a painting of the Spectacle Bear, the only bear found in the southern hemisphere and a rare and endangered species that the zoo was building a multi-million dollar habitat for. He has been featured in many of the nation’s most respected magazines such as Connoisseur, The Robb Report, Southwest Art, Decor Magazine, Sedona Magazine, and Artists of the Rockies and Golden West. He is currently a member of the prestigious Society of American Historical Artists.
