Ed McGowin

William Edward McGowin was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1938. He received his B.A. at the University of Southern Mississippi and his M.A. from the University of Alabama. In 1962, McGowin moved to Washington D.C. where he served as an aid to Mississippi Democratic Rep. William M. Colmer and continued to make art.[2] That same year, McGowin established the McGowin-Bright Art School in Alexandria, Virginia which served as both an art school and supply shop. [3] Shortly after, McGowin returned to the South to carry out a teaching fellowship and complete a master's degree in painting at University of Alabama. In 1976, McGowin moved to New York City where he continues to live and work.

McGowin is married to artist, curator and educator Claudia DeMonte.[4] He lives and works in both New York City and Miami Beach, Florida.[5] He has two children, Leah McGowin Thomas and Jill McGowin who both reside in San Antonio.

Initially trained as a painter, McGowin quickly began experimenting across media. His paintings, sculptures, conceptual art projects, films, writings, and public art installations have a southern sensibility rooted in his early experiences in Mississippi and Alabama.[6] Consistent with his university training, McGowin's work began with an abstract focus. Within art history, his art from the mid-1960s became associated with a second generation of artists working within the archetypes of the Washington Color School.[7] McGowin also pioneered the used of vacuum-forming to create distinct abstract forms in a variety of new materials.

McGowin's works are found in several important museum collections including: Whitney Museum of American Art,[10] Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The Phillips Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Indianapolis Museum of Art, among others. [11] In 1998, McGowin donated his papers, which include professional correspondence, project files relating to outdoor sculpture commissions, sketchbooks, photographs and printed materials including exhibition catalogs, art periodicals, and clippings, to the Archives of American Art.

McGowin has designed permanent works using materials such as cast stone, bronze and terra cotta. His commissions include sculptures for University of Northern Iowa,[12] Pennsylvania Horticultural Society,[13] Dallas Area Rapid Transit,[14] Metropolitan Transportation Authority,[15] New Mexico Department of Transportation, City of Rockville, MD, among others.