in the eye of the beholder
gallery artist focuses on ancient rock art and modern aircraft

by Julia Rosenfeld

“This Texas boy never thought he’d ever leave Texas – and especially not at 63 years old,” declares Fred Cowart. But that’s just what he did about a year ago when his wife, Carol, took a job as the “one and only” Registered Dental Hygienist in the clinic at McConnell AFB. “We love Kansas. She loves her job here and I love my part-time tutoring job at Wichita State. I don’t know that we’ll ever move back to Texas,” he laughs.

Neither one of the Cowarts are overly familiar with military life. It’s Carol’s first time working as a base contractor, and Fred did some contract work as an illustrator for the Air Force in the 1980’s. It was that experience that generated two of Fred’s three entries in the current Gallery Showcase. “I’ve been a friend of the demonstration squadron of the Thunderbirds for many years. In 1983, I wrote a song and presented it to them as their personal song,” Fred explains. “I’ve been very honored to be asked to be their team guest at about six air shows, too. The painting in the Gallery Showcase (Feeling of Thunder) actually depicts four wingmen doing a backward loop. Then I placed the song lyrics that I wrote down the side. It’s my tribute to that amazing team.”

The Thunderbirds piece regularly hangs in the clinic’s dental operatory where Carol sees most of her patients. “It’s a big piece, 30 inches by 40 inches, so I get lots of comments on it,” says Carol. “Anyone who gets their teeth cleaned at McConnell knows that picture.” She’s always proud to announce that her husband is the artist. “Fred’s the one with the artistic talent in the family,” declares Carol. “I just mess around a bit with photography. His work is actually published and gets sold.”

But Carol’s talent and artistic eye is clearly on display in this year’s Gallery Showcase too, in her photograph Fencepost Boot. “We took a trip to Mt. Rushmore and saw this scene along the way. It’s something we might have seen in more often in our home state – so our Texas roots made us notice it. I asked Fred to turn around and pull over so I could take the shot,” she explains.

While Fred’s interest in aircraft is also evident in another one of his gallery entries, Number 8 at Bergstrom, his true passion is Indian Petroglyphs. He has published a series of sketchbooks of his pen and ink illustrations of the ancient artwork. “The one we entered in this year’s gallery showcase is one of the most striking images,” says Fred. The 8.5” X 11” drawing took him more than 100 hours to execute. Yet what’s truly striking about Tlaaloc, the Mexican God of Storms, is that looks more like a black and white photo than a pen and ink drawing.

Tlaaloc the Mexican God of Storms
pen and ink drawing by Fred Cowart

Number 8
painting by Fred Cowart

Fencepost Boot
photograph by Carol Cowart

A Feeling of Thunder
painting by Fred Cowart