Born in Newport, OR in 1946, educated at Western Oregon State College in Monmouth, OR, and tribally affiliated with the Wiyot of Northern California, Rick Bartow’s association with the Pacific Northwest runs deep. His work is represented in upwards of 50 regional museums and major collections, collected by such cornerstones of American culture as the Smithsonian and the Rockwell, and permanently installed on the grounds National Mall in Washington DC. His work is influenced by the natural, the spiritual, the mythological, and the transformative, as well as his experiences in the Pacific Northwest, the Vietnam war, and travels abroad. Just a year before his death in 2016, a major retrospective exhibition curated by Jill Hartz and Daniell Knapp opened at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum and will travel through 2017.

professional experience:
1969–71 Served in us Army during the Vietnam War
1978–80s Teacher, Portland Community
College and Corvallis Community College, OR
1977–present Teacher, workshops,
symposiums and visiting lecturer
2001 Artist-in-Residence, Crow’s Shadow
Institute of the Arts, Pendelton, OR
Musician