Kel Bowers was born in Stoke on Trent, and his early life was devoted to athletics, with a preference on running. In the late 1960s he moved to Australia and began to move toward a career in art.  In the 1970s he 'ran' the distance from England to Australia, and on his return to England enrolled at a local Polytechnic (Stoke).

In 1995 he came to stay in St Ives, and during that visit he held his first solo show at the Salthouse Gallery run by Bob DEVEREUX.