Kim Mackey was born in 1953 and grew up in Colorado. He attended public schools and won a scholarship to attend the Colorado Institute of Art in Denver. Following art school, he worked for several years as an illustrator, completing assignments for such clients as True West Magazine, Western Horseman Magazine, and Capitol Records. His work is exhibited at Sherwoods Gallery and also has been exhibited at Coors Western Art Show, the C.M. Russell Auction, The American Art Invitational, the Phippen Museum, and the Gilcrease Museum. Special studies at Colorado State University qualified him as one of only a few certified police artists in the state. Recognition from his peers and collectors led him away from commercial work and illustration into full time fine art painting. He is a popular teacher, conducting workshops and classes throughout the region. He has been a faculty instructor at the Art Students League of Denver, and has taught at the Colorado Institute of Art. Critics consider Kim to be one of the best western artists working today. Educated at the Colorado Institute of Art, his early career as an illustrator paved the way to his present stature as an early sought after painter. His credentials list numerous awards including the prestigious Winsor Newton Award from the Oil Painters of America. He has exhibited at the Salmagundi Club in New York, the Oil Painters of America in Chicago, Illinois, and San Antonio, Texas, the Colorado Governor's Invitational Show in Loveland, Colorado, and the Coors Western Art Show in Denver, Colorado. His paintings hang in many distinguished collections, including that of singer songwriter, Neil Diamond. His work is also included in the highly selective King Collection at the Sangre De Cristo Fine Art Center in Pueblo, Colorado. He is represented by galleries in Denver, Houston, Scottsdale, Park City, Aspen, and Boulder. Kim is one of only a few artists in the United States to be selected as a signature member of the Oil Painters of America, and has been featured in Art of the West, Art Talk, Western Horseman, Cowboys and Indian, Art Revue Magazine, The Artist's Magazine, and Southwest Art Magazine. The Denver Post has called him,"a master of this genre", and Southwest Art has called him a,"traditional", Cowboy Artist in the finest sense of the word.