Ray Swanson

Swanson was born on October 4, 1937, in Alcester, South Dakota.[1][2] His grandfather was an "amateur painter,"[3] and his brother Gary was also a painter.[4] Swanson graduated from the Northrop Aeronautical Institute in 1960.[1][3]

Swanson began his career as an engineer in California, and he opened a gallery in Oak Glen, San Bernardino County, California, in the 1960s.[3] In 1973, he left California to establish the Christian Academy of Prescott in Prescott, Arizona, in 1973.[2] He later moved to Carefree, Arizona, where he opened a studio.[1]

Swanson became a professional painter of the American West, especially Native Americans. His paintings depicted the lives of the Hopi, Zuni and Navajo tribes.[2] He often painted on the Navajo Nation reservation.[2] Swanson's paintings were not caricatures of Native Americans but realistic depictions, and they were thus "positively received by the Indian community."[5]

Swanson was a member of the Cowboy Artists of America from 1986 to 2004.[1] He won a gold medal from the National Academy of Western Art in 1975.[6] His work was added to the collection of the Phippen Museum in Prescott.[3]

Swanson married Beverly Anderton; they had a son, Steven, and a daughter, Pamela.[2] He died on December 17, 2004.[2] His funeral was held at the Desert Springs Bible Church in Phoenix, Arizona.[2]