ACE POWELL - Timber Stand Gallery

The Art of
ACE POWELL



	Born in Tularosa, New Mexico, Ace was a painter of western scenes, wild animals, and Indian figures in realistic style and in the tradition of Charles Russell. Powell's signature on his paintings is the ace of diamonds, which also became his nickname. Ace and his family moved to Montana when he was age one month. His mother was a schoolteacher, and his father was a cowboy foreman on the Ben Steven's horse ranch, then a homesteader, and eventually a worker for the Glacier National Park Service. Charlie Russell's summer home was near the Powell home, and the Russells were family friends and encouraged Asa, nicknamed "Ace" in his artistic talent. He loved the Blackfeet Indians so much his father sent him to school on their reservation. Ace worked for the Army briefly and in the plastic figurine business until his partner ran off with his second wife. At age 40 Ace really started to develop his art career. In 1952, he married artist Nancy McLaughlin, and in Hungry Horse, Montana they successfully operated a gallery, but it burned to the ground in 1964. They divorced, and in 1965, he married Thelma Conner.