NEWS
Visalia artist holds exhibition
The public is invited to see the paintings and prints of Kevin Bowman, an artist from Visalia, California. The Porterville College exhibition runs from September 29 - October 23, 2008.
Bowman has participated in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States, including The Printed Image: the First Biennial Midwestern Graphics Juried Exhibition in Topeka, Kansas, Prints USA National Juried Exhibition at the Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Missouri, and the Janet Turner 5th National Print Competition at the Janet Turner Print Museum at Chico State University, Chico California. Recent solo exhibitions of his work include shows at Bethel College Art Gallery in Newton, Kansas, Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, California, and at Design by Arenas in Visalia, California.
Kevin Bowman was born in 1971 in Hartford City, Indiana. He attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, from which he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking in 1994. He received his Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of South Dakota in 2002. Following completion of his graduate work, Bowman joined the art department at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California, where he continues to teach drawing, design and printmaking. Bowman is also the gallery director of Arts Visalia, a non-profit community art center in Visalia, a position he has held since 2006.
The bulk of Bowman's work is a variation on color field and abstract expressionist ideas. As he says, "My images are, in essence, abstracted representations of natural and man-made phenomenon. In them, I try to capture or create a visual sense of something I have seen. For example, the kinetic energy and history of a trail of tire tracks in a field or footprints in fresh snow. My goal is not to recreate the original. Rather, these sources of inspiration serve as a launching pad from which I then improvise an image based upon the original source".
Ultimately, these images combine his interests in color, mark-making, surface texture, pattern and movement. As Bowman reflects, "I am fascinated by the luminosity of colors when they are printed onto paper; by the unique surfaces of marks achievable through printing processes and painting. The tools of printmaking media hold a visual appeal to me that makes me want to be in the studio. I want to see the results of printing the next plate, to see how the next layer of color will blend with the previous. To me, there is even a mystique to the smell of the inks, the oils, and metals that I use to make my work. For me, they embody the studio and the production of art. Maybe I relate these to memories of the metal stamping and painting factories my parents worked in and I worked in throughout high school and college."
Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, from noon to 2 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m.