Carlotta J. Owens was assistant curator of modern prints and drawings at the National Gallery of Art from until 2019. Academic pursuits in art began for Owens at American University, followed by the University of Maryland, College Park, where she graduated in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in studio art that focused on painting and printmaking. The same year, she began her career at the National Gallery as a staff assistant in the registrar’s office and was later hired by the Gallery's education department as a docent. With her background in printmaking, Owens became assistant curator of prints, drawings, and photographs in 1980 and subsequently, assistant curator of modern prints and drawings in 1987. She did her graduate studies at the University of Maryland in art history. Since being at the National Gallery, she has organized and coordinated several exhibitions including: John James Audubon: The Birds of America, 1980; Drawing on Stone: Early European Lithography, 1988; Milton Avery, Works on Paper, 1995; and Artists and the Avant-Garde Theater in Paris, 1887-1990, 1998.