Artist Ron Oden

Ron Oden

About

An American artist, Born 1953, in Santa Monica, California, my talent was natural, and I began drawing at 8 years and painting in oils at age 12. Having come from a family with modest means, art school was simply out of the question, so as is often the case for many, I chose to be employed in graphic and commercial arts. This afforded me a way to make a stable living in a vocation closest to my first preference. Also the case for many as well, my love and enjoyment of fine arts was the very "driver" to my graphic and commercial art successes. My paintings have always been about my diverse ideas about what happens around me in life; this answers a nagging question from my critics whom are puzzled about why I paint and draw in several different styles. But I have a definite reason for doing this which I will explain going forward.

My favorite way to work is in what I call an "open-conscious" technique. My pieces develop through open-ended free thinking of which flexibility is the key ingredient where one primary rule trumps the others; what rule? It is this: Limit the rules! For me, ideas fly into my head; I catch them and then release them onto surfaces, after I have synthesized their meanings through my imagination and my affixed messages. People are unaware that artists like writers get a creative block from time to time. It was beautiful when I finally realized that nature brings all ideas to you, then you take it from there; you are free to express what you wish; draw it, paint it, carve it! Once you realize that nature is the source for all ideas, your creative block disappears and ideas suddenly become abundant. For artists that create in this "open-conscious" method, it becomes nonsensical to paint or draw in one style for the rest of one's creative life. My art, at least for this duration, is less about me, and more about interpreting what is going on around me. I think this might be true for many artists. When I finish a piece, I want the viewer to think more critically about the subject or story that I have presented them. I have no interest in making creative subject matter of my insecurities, hang-ups and peccadilloes; there are more important things in life. In other words, I want to share a common experience with my viewer. I'm not interested in attempting to make a person who takes the time to look at my work try to psychoanalyze me. I have a great deal more respect for my audience than that. … Read More

Location: Tahoe Vista, United States
Website: http://www.ronoden.com

Education

A primarily self-taught American artist, Ron Oden is driven by his love of fine art. He turned to commercial art and graphics to provide a living for himself and his family, and has produced story illustrations for newspapers and magazines, print advertising images, page designs, product illustrations, outdoor poster images, book illustrations and spot illustrations for the clip art industry. Oden's work in the field of graphics spanned from the hot type and cold type era through the digital age.

Oden was born in St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept. 2, 1953. He started drawing at about age eight, and began painting in oils by age 12 and at age 13 drew and painted school murals. Throughout his childhood, his parents encouraged his art talent.

Oden attended high school in Hawthorne, Calif., beginning in 1968 and studied art with the director of the school's art program, Clayton S. Williams, who continued to be Oden's mentor throughout his career.

Oden's mother and father separated during his high school years, and Ron was sent to live with his father. During his summer school break in 1970 at the age of 16, he took a job with Spectrum Industries, a production art factory in Los Angeles, to paint a series of tasteful decorative nude women to be supplied to hotel chains. Desiring to continue his art training after graduating from high school but coming from a family with modest financial means, he had the harsh reality of trying to finance a continued education toward fine arts.

Each year for some time Williams, his art teacher, had been funding three of the most promising students to the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design for Saturday life drawing studies. Recognizing Oden's talent, instead of awarding the scholarship to three students, Williams gave all three sessions to Oden for a full year. Aside from inspiring motivation in the young artist, Williams' gift greatly enhanced Oden's ability to draw the human form. Realizing that the young artist had limited financial means, Williams also funnelled supplies to Oden as needed, and occasionally found art projects for him to perform in return. At his high school graduation ceremonies in 1971, Oden was presented with a small, monetary award and plaque from the Hawthorne Art and Cultural Society, for being the most promising future talent to the community. Oden also was given the Bank of America Achievement award and was voted "Most Talented" by his fellow graduating classmates.

After graduating from high school, Oden enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served two separate tours of the Pacific Rim. In late 1976, he became an illustrator for Mercury Engineers Inc. at SAMSO (Space and Missile Systems Organization) in El Segundo. Several months later, he married Margaret Louise. To support a growing family, he took numerous freelance assignments. In 1979, he was assigned to a civil service government illustrator position at the Fleet Combat Center, Pacific located at Point Loma in San Diego. A year later, he was assigned to the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado and designed and prepared training materials, illustrations and publications for the Department of Defense.

While holding down his government position, Oden enrolled at Cuyamacha Junior College in El Cajon under the G.I. Bill of Rights for veterans. At the same time, he accepted freelance assignments for local advertising agencies and design studios in San Diego. After three years of government work, he started his own design firm in San Diego, Oden Enterprises, which lasted seven years.
In late 1985, the Oden family moved to Tahoe Vista, Calif., in North Lake Tahoe. He had a succession of jobs, including with Media Consultant, a Reno ad agency; graphics editor of the Reno Gazette-Journal; a job at the San Diego Union-Tribune (now San Diego Union), in their creative services (advertising) department; and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) as a senior computer scientist specializing in computer generated art and worked with naval research scientists and engineers. He also worked in video and animation applications and early Worldwide Web development, through Technology Transfer programs.

In 2003, Oden opened a gallery, which sponsored his first public exhibition. Today, in addition to spending time each day on his fine-art painting, Oden continues his illustration career. Recently, he has begun to carve sculptures in marble and alabaster. To date, Oden has produced more than 350 paintings, 1,000 drawings and life studies and has illustrated numerous children's books, as well as a book on 29 towns in Northern Nevada titled "Stories from the Sagebrush, Celebrating Northern Nevada at the Millennium." Ron continues to reside at Lake Tahoe with his wife, Margaret.

AWARDS
1971 Bank of America Achievement award: In field of art
1971 Hawthorne (Calif.) Art and Cultural Society scholarship
1971 Most talented: Hawthorne (Calif.) High School Hall of Fame
1976 Best illustration: Marketing Tools, professional group
1989 First place: Best of Gannett: For a body of work
1990 Copley Ring of Truth: San Diego Union-Tribune: First place advertising
1991 Copley Ring of Truth: San Diego Union-Tribune: First place local ad

1991 Copley Ring of Truth: San Diego Union-Tribune: First place classified ad
1991 ANME Advertising Award: First place, international, for Century 21
1999 Special Citation from the publisher: For Illustrating "Stories from the Sagebrush, Celebrating Northern Nevada at the Millennium," written by Don Cox, photographs by Jean Dixon and paintings by Ron Oden.
1999 First place: Information Graphic, Nevada Press Association
2000 First place: Best of Gannett for information graphic on how gold is produced in Nevada, and a body of work
2000 First place: Information Graphic, Nevada Press Association
2000 Second place: Information Graphic, Nevada Press Association
2000 Second place: Best Illustration, Nevada Press Association
2001 First place: Information Graphic, Nevada Press Association
2001 Second place: Best Illustration, Nevada Press Association
2002 First place: Information Graphic, Nevada Press Association
2002 First place: Best Illustration, Nevada Press Association
2002 Second place: Information Graphic, Nevada Press Association
2003 APNEC (The Associated Press): First place, Yucca Mountain

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