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Ozias was born in Missouri and raised in Massachusetts, but has spent most of his adult life in Downs, Kansas, where he taught language arts for many years. A graduate of Worcester State College (Massachusetts), Ozias’ work has been strongly influenced by his father, Stanley Ozias, who was one of the foremost engravers in the United States. Ozias works in a variety of media, but most of his recent work has been in pastels and oils.  

From the small Kansas town of Downs (population 1,040), where Ozias lives and works, he ventures across the state and on to the western U.S., seeking out both the drama and serenity in the landscape and wildlife that exist there. Whether he’s painting the vast Flint Hills, the awe-inspiring Rocky Mountains, or a lone buffalo in repose on the prairie, his representational style evokes a specific sense of time and place that engages the viewer in what is reassuringly familiar as well as that which is unknowable in nature.

In some of his newest oil paintings (included in this exhibit), Ozias has interpreted his subjects in a slightly looser style, imbuing them with rich, evocative color and light—cobalt blue skies, fiery orange and sunflower yellow horizons, luminous white clouds—so that the work is more stylized and less representational--an interpretation of a scene rather then an exact depiction. These paintings are a powerful addition to his body of work and have created an excited buzz among long-time collectors of his paintings as well as those less familiar with his work. With the “Coming Home” exhibit, SouthWind Gallery has put together an irresistible mix of Ozias’ latest representational and stylized works.  

Like many well-known artists, Ozias’ professional art career did not follow a straight line. He put his art aside for a number of years and then picked it up again in the 1970s. He began painting professionally in 2001, and in just a few short years has established himself as a popular regional painter with a long list of awards to his credit. His work hangs in public and private collections throughout the United States and in many foreign countries. He is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America, a Master Pastelist in the MidAmerica Pastel Society, and a member of Oil Painters of America.