Fred Fellows was born in 1934 in Ponca City, Oklahoma, home to the Ponca and Osage Indians. Early influences that shaped his desire to be an artist and nurtured his love of the cowboy life included his aunt who went to Taos, New Mexico, every summer to study under Nicolai Fechin and Birger Sandzen. She encouraged Fred to draw and paint at an early age. He also grew up listening to stories of the Old West from his grandmother’s brother who rode in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and later the 101 Ranch Wild West Show, as well as his grandfather who went to Tonopah and Goldfield, Nevada, during the 1905 gold rush.
