Jennifer Bowen
Her Travels and The World of Dreams and Spirit
By Alexandra Shaw

Jennifer Bowen has combined her interests in art, healing, and social change and has made a difference in the world around her. Through her efforts and accomplishments we can become inspired to contribute our creative energy.

She has participated in such projects as mural painting in Central America, in the mid 1980's in conjunction with local artists from division offices of the Ministry of Culture in Nicaragua. More recently, she has also taught art in a studio workshop for inner city teens living with HIV/AIDS from New York City. In the last year, she has undertaken a pro-peace project in which she creates public art in the form of large pastel and chalk mandalas on the sidewalks of New York City (see above). The photographic documentation of these mandalas have been exhibited by Bread and Roses Gallery, a gallery within the New York City Local Union 1199.

She exhibits extensively both nationally and internationally, which is a reflection of her interests and experiences traveling and living abroad, while remaining committed to the richly rewarding creative process of making art. These diverse cultural journeys, along with related language studies, are visually and linguistically incorporated into her paintings and art. Greatly influenced by both Western and Eastern philosophies, her work integrates her external travels with the internal world of dreams and spirit.

The work that is pictured here is a full sized torso body cast, made from medical casting gauze and plaster. The exterior, which is shown here, is executed with acrylic paints. The interior (not shown) is gold leafed and embelleshed with calligraphy of Classical Vietnamese poetry and small images. This piece is sculpturally dimensional, yet light weight.

Jennifer says: "For me, painting and creating art functions as a realm in which I am able to integrate my internal perceptions of the outer world and its diverse circumstances. Additionally I find that it is a forum in which I am able to depict the elements from this life to which I am drawn, or am drawn to react to. In this way, art creates for me, a kind of bridge to and from the inner and outer worlds in which we exist, thus synthesizing my fascination with such ancient lineages as myth, with my attraction to language, which may be, for example, in the form of Chinese characters. I find that utilizing such tool of inspiration as ancient Chinese characters, traditional shamanic dream images, or traditional forms of spiritual art, allows for an interesting contextual platform from which to respond to, for example, the current political climate, or certain social challenges that particular sectors of society may encounter, be they gender or health based. This permits a kind of reaching into the past to touch the present, which I feel evokes a kind of universality to art."

"An example of this would be the creation of public art in the form of mandalas out of sidewalk chalk and pastel, a decidedly urban version of an ancient spiritual art form traditionally created in sand. Both the sand and chalk provide a temporary piece of art, which may be swept away by the weather, sending out a fleeting message of light without destroying public property. For me, engaging in the creation of these pieces provides an opportunity to respond to certain political decisions with which I was not in accord, by sending out a positive message of healing, rather than aggression. In approaching art in this manner, I find that I enjoy a positive experience in making art, and hope that these works might illicit a similar response in the viewer as well."

The artist holds a B.F.A from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, as well as a Masters in Asian Pacific Studies from the Center for the Pacific Rim at the University of San Francisco. Additionally she has studied Spanish, French and Japanese, and in the last four years has continued her studies in the Chinese Language at Columbia University in New York City, where she currently resides and exhibits regularly.

Jennifer received an Award of Excellence in the Manhattan Arts International "Small Works" competition judged by Jill Conner, New York City art critic and Renee Phillips, Director of Manhattan Arts International. Awards for her work also include those received by Tandem Corporation.

Kazuko, Director of Galleryonetwentyeight Gallery in New York City, NY, said about her work: "There are always intellectuals from the West who are interested in Asian Arts and Bowen is one whose art expresses this. Some artists stay in their own tradition and follow their own patterns, but there are those who become universal people. Bowen's work is about more than making visual art and this is very important." Laure Oliver of Alliance Francaise in San Francisco, CA stated, "Bowen's oeuvre represents a surrealistic menagerie filled with animals, symbols and talismanic emblems. Her palette is lushly colored…."

Jennifer Bowen may be contacted at JenniferBowen@aol.com