Color. Light. Wonder.
Engaged in the arts from childhood, Claire Bowen studied fine art at the University of Georgia—which included a semester in Cortona, Italy—finishing with a BA in art from Columbus State University. She has worked with artists George Stillman, Josiah L.M. Baird, and Doug Himes.
Interested in “geometry, but not math,” Bowen currently uses pattern, color, and organic geometric shapes to evoke abstracted landscape, including “internal landscape.” Her overarching themes deal with nature, freedom, and the spiritual. Working chiefly in acrylic, Bowen combines the disparate and uses the unexpected or discarded—placing a bold block of color next to detailed drawing, for example, or using a piece of trash as collage. She is concerned with line, shape, and color; words and iconography; and pattern. She finds collage to be a perfect vehicle for interpreting these interests, in addition to being “just plain fun.”
Ultimately, Bowen strives for work that spurs thinking as well as feeling. “Paintings should fascinate, feel personal, and be transcendent. When the viewer approaches a painting and essentially says, ‘Beam me up, Scotty,’ and the art does … that’s what I’m after.”
