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John Houser, sculptor and painter, is outstanding among contemporary artists for his versatility, the thoroughness of his training and the depth of his artistic sensibility. He was born in Rapid City, South Dakota where his native talent was honed from infancy in the studio of his father, the sculptor Ivan Houser, who was First Assistant to Gutzon Borglum in the early years of carving Mount Rushmore. Later moving with his parents to Oregon John was admitted, at the age of fifteen, as the youngest active member in the history of the Oregon Society of Artists. Following graduation from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon with a double major in natural science and art he attended UCLA on an Alumni Fellowship for graduate art study. Houser later received the Elizabeth T. Greenshields Award for independent European studies (Spain, Italy and Denmark). In Italy he was associated with the Florentine painter, Pietro Annigoni, and the American sculptor Avard Fairbanks. Additional studies were later undertaken in Boston with the Classicist painter, R.H. Ives Gammel, and at Harvard Medical School in anatomy. In 1988 he received the Outstanding Alumni Award from Lewis and Clark College.

Equally accomplished as both painter and sculptor, his career has taken him across Europe and through the Unites States from the west coast to the eastern seaboard cities, into Appalachia and the deep South. Dedicated to interpreting the human condition through direct experience and fascinated by its variety, the artist has lived and worked among such diverse groups as the Gullah Blacks of South Carolina, Italian street fakirs, hippies, migrant workers, Gypsies and Native Americans - taking his inspiration from life itself. He has also traveled extensively throughout the Southwestern United States and Mexico painting and sculpting among the Pueblo, Seri, Lacandón, Tarahumara and Huichol Indians.

Houser has been the subject of several television documentaries while his work has been featured in such notable publications as Southwest Art, Anterican Anist, Texas Monthly, Art Talk, Connoisseur, Palette Talk, The Artist's Magazine, Blanco y Negro (Spain), ABC (Spain), Texas Highways, Siempre!, Presencia de México and Andlysis (Mexican publications). In addition to winning prestigious awards John has participated in exhibitions, nationally and internationally, such as The National Academy of Western Art, The National Sculpture Society, a solo exhibition at The Royal Danish Havescelscab (Copenhagen), The Western Heritage Show (Houston) and Kermezaar Exhibition (El Paso). His work is in private and public collections including Turebywerk (Denmark), The U.S. Library of Congress, The Arizona State Museum, The University of Arizona Art Museum (Tucson), The Greenschields Museum (Montreal), The Southwest Museum (Los Angeles), The Portland Museum of Fine Art (Oregon), Americana Museum (El Paso), and The University of Texas at El Paso, among others.

Mr. Houser recently completed a bronze statue (7' high) of Bishop Alfonso Gallegos, first Hispanic Bishop of Northern California, which was installed in February, 1997 in Sacramento, California. The artist has executed portrait busts of many notable personalities including Lic. Francisco Gutiérrez Barrios (Minster of Interior, Republic of México), Jaime Bermúdez (the founder of the maquila industry), Maestro Abraham Chávez (Conductor, El Paso Symphony), José Cisneros (artist/historical illustrator), Tom Lea (artist/author), Arq. José Lizárraga (cultural affairs) and others. A collection of his paintings toured in a year long two person traveling exhibition, "The Gift of Life" (Boca Raton, Fl., Houston, Tx., Washington, D.C., and Boston, Mass.) sponsored by the Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

The artist maintains his studio in El Paso, Texas where he is Sculptor and Project Director for The XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest, the first regional memorial in the United States. On September 26, 1996, the artist installed in downtown El Paso, a 14' monument to Fray García de San Francisco, first in the XII Travelers series. Mr. Houser is now creating the Don Juan de Oñate Monument, second in the XII Travelers series, which will be the largest equestrian bronze in the nation (to be dedicated April 25, 1998).

The XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest, Inc. A non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation for project promotion and enhancement fund-raising . P.O. Box 220243, El Paso, Texas 79912; Tel: (915) 533-6448

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