John Gawne
was a successful options trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
when, in the early 1990s, his sketches and pencil drawings brought him
to the attention of collectors and Western artists, such as Joe Beeler,
who encouraged Gawne to pursue an artistic career. Gawne soon quit the
financial world, devoted himself full-time to art, and today his work is
represented by some of the most prestigious galleries in the nation.
In explaining his passion for the West and the out-of-doors, the
artist says “a river runs through it.” He is referring to a
fourth-generation Gawne family retreat on the Fox River – a “sacred
place” located roughly 50 miles southwest from his home and studio in
Oak Park, Illinois. This is where Gawne spent boyhood summers roaming
the wilderness, and where his children are now making their own
discoveries.
The dead-end road to this secluded neck of the woods is Gawne Lane,
the only name it has ever had. It was a lengthy driving trip out West,
after Gawne graduated from Notre Dame, that first stimulated his special
interest in Native American cultures. Today he still drives to the
West, several times each year, for new source material and inspiration.
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