Painter, printmaker, sculptor, and pastelist Ronald "Ron" Kowalke was born on November 8, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois, to second-generation Polish parents. He took courses at the Art Institiue of Chicago and the University of Chicago before earning his BA from Rockford University in 1959 and his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1960. This was followed by a lengthy teaching career beginning at Northern Illinois University and the Swain School of Art in New Bedford, Massachussets. In 1969 he accepted a position at the University of Hawai'i in the Manoa Art Department, where he remained until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 2000. He died February 26, 2021, in Kailua, Hawai'i.

Kowalke's work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Boston Museum of Fine Arts, MA; the Library of Congress; Davidson College; Yale University Art Gallery; Hawai'i State Museum; Honolulu Museum of Art; the Hessel Museum of Art, NY; the Fogg Museum, CT; Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand; and many others.