The man credited by many with opening Carthage up as a Mecca for artists has died.
Artist Lowell Davis, one of the founders of artCentral and the Midwest Gathering of the Artists, and a well-known painter and sculptor with his signature pieces scattered across Carthage, died Monday night at the age of 83.
His family announced that he had passed shortly before 6 p.m. Monday at his home in Red Oak II, the community he created northeast of Carthage.
“Today I lost the love of my life, my teacher, my guidance counselor, (who would have thought I can manage his art business) my best friend and soul mate,” his wife, Rose Davis, wrote on Facebook. “He died knowing that he was loved by all. His sense of humor even to his deathbed is unimaginable. A week before he passed. I told him to forgive me for not being a perfect and ideal wife for him. He opened and rolled his eyes saying “I’ll think about it.” That’s the kind of person I would like to remember. Funny, witty and handsome dude. I will miss you forever babe. Till we meet again.”
Inducted into the Hall of Carthage Heroes in 2019, a short biography of Lowell Davis hangs in the main hallway at the Fair Acres Family Y in Carthage.
Davis was born on June 8, 1937, in neighboring Lawrence County. His family moved to Carthage and Davis attended Mark Twain Elementary School and Carthage High School in the 1950s.
“Ironically, after failing English and art his sophomore year at Carthage High School in the 1950s, Lowell dropped out to join the Air Force,” the biography said. “As a part of a four-member crew, he flew prop planes during the Algerian War. After one particularly rough landing in Algiers, Lowell received a medical discharge. Following his military service, Lowell moved to Dallas-Fort Worth to be an Art Director for a large advertising agency. He explains his experience, ‘All those fourteen years, all I could think about was getting back to Missouri and getting a farm.’ Fulfilling that wish, Lowell returned to a farm outside Carthage in 1974 to farm and pursue his own art full time.”
Davis is widely known as the “Norman Rockwell of Rural Art,” because of his works depicting farm life, especially in Jasper County. His artistic works include paintings, figurines, bronzes, metal sculptures and art storybooks that reflect small town life in rural Missouri, giving a glimpse into simpler and often sweeter times.
According to the Hall of Heroes biography; “Among Lowell’s greatest contributions to the Carthage area is his re-creation of his childhood hometown of Red Oak, the original now vanished. Red Oak II is a charming step back into a small rural town, complete with the original Phillips 66 gas station, general store, schoolhouse, blacksmith shop and the Belle Starr home he preserved, moved and restored on the property. Thousands of visitors traveling Route 66 make a special stop to visit Red Oak II and sometimes have the pleasure to run into Lowell at his home there.”
Throughout his career, Lowell has received numerous industry awards for his paintings and collectibles, both locally and nationally, and was recognized as “Artist of the Year” at the 2019 Carthage Chamber of Commerce Banquet.
Renowned Carthage Artist Andy Thomas, one of the hundreds of artists Davis mentored, presented Davis with an original work of art at that Chamber Banquet in January 2019.
“Back in 1975, I desperately needed a job and I wanted to pursue a job in art,” Thomas said that night. “Nobody believed I would find a job in the art world, I didn’t even think I would, but I was going to give it a try. I was told to go visit this man and I spent three hours with him in an old farmhouse, cold and drafty. He was so enthusiastic, when I left that farmhouse, two people in Jasper County believed I could be an artist.
“He’s done so much for Carthage, his work has depicted farm life in America. Thousands and thousands of people from across America have come to Carthage to visit him. They still visit him, you can’t go out and visit without being interrupted by someone who wants to meet him. He is, in my eyes, the greatest artist I have ever known. He’s one of the greatest people I’ve ever known, and I’ve known some great people. So I did a special piece of artwork to commemorate the great, great, Lowell Davis.”
