About the Artist

MILTON BOWENS
About the Artist

Born and raised in Oakland, Calif., Milton Bowens is the fifth boy of ten children. Milton’s artistic promise began at the age of five with nothing more than a few pencils and cut up brown paper bags used as sketch paper, thanks to his mother’s ingenuity of making the best of lean times. Milton never lost sight of his humble roots. Discreetly placed on many of his works of art is a slim strip of brown paper bag. Years later, Milton’s formal art education took off while he attended the Renaissance Art School in Oakland during his junior and senior high school years. After graduating, Milton received a scholarship to the California College of Arts and Crafts. He completed one-year of study then enlisted in the United States Armed Forces and became an Illustrator. He received his Associates Degree in Commercial Art under the Army’s College Education Assistance Program (ACE). Milton continued his art education at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee and at North Carolina’s Fayetteville State University, while completing his military obligations. During this time, two of the military’s most prestigious museums: The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum, Fort Bragg, North Carolina and The Don F. Pratt Memorial Museum, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, collected Milton’s artwork.

After serving his tour of duty, Milton returned to the Bay Area, where he continued his education under the mentorship of Fine Artist David Bradford, head of the Art Department and instructor at Laney College (Oakland). Inspired by great artists such as Jean Michel Basquiat, Robert Rauschenberg, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence and Andy Warhol, Milton changed his focus from illustration to fine art. That shift proved crucial for Milton now considered a great artist in his own right and inspirational public speaker/community activist in the struggle to keep art a vital part of public education and a tool to help build self-esteem in youth. Milton works tirelessly to create thought-provoking exhibitions that will help restore a level of hope in communities desperately in need of inspiration.