Dennis Farris was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. From an early age he expressed a keen interest in art. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in commercial art from Central Missouri State University.
Dennis’ work focuses on the grandeur and atmosphere of the Western landscape. Although most of his work has been centered in the Southwest, he has found the wide-open spaces in Texas to be a favorite subject. Many of his paintings are set in West Texas and include Big Bend National Park, the Devils River, and the Hill Country.
He believes it is important to immerse himself in the landscape and has served as “Artist in Residence” for Zion National Park (2010), North Rim of the Grand Canyon (2012), Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (2014), and Guadalupe National Park (2016). In 2016 he was an Ambassador for the Montana office of Tourism featured in an advertising campaign for painting Glacier National Park.