Johna Gibson Bowman

Johna Gibson Bowman was born and raised in Northwest Ohio. She graduated in 2006 from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Two-Dimensional Studies with a specialization in Painting and Drawing.

Johna currently lives in Swanton, Ohio with her husband and two cats.

I hate writing artist statements! I did write one, though, so here it is...

Growing up in the country and being surrounded by trees, fields and flowers has had an ineradicable impact on my growth as an artist. The changeable nuances and brilliant patterns present in the smallest twig or leaf instigates a deep passion and long standing fascination with that which I cannot control. For so many years I have been emerged in the wondrous world of nature, but am seeing with new eyes every day.

There is also the deep seeded enigma which is mortality. The transience of all living things into something else creates a resonation in my being that I strive to understand and connect to my work. I search for the mortality of nature and the nature of mortality, trying to find where one begins and the other ends.

My work usually starts with a clear suggestion of how I would like to modify something otherwise thought ordinary. For example, a patch of dying grass, a freshly plowed wheat field, or a fleeting glimpse into our own mortality. All of these speak volumes to me.

These paintings or drawings evolve into compositions in which texture is the principal focus. The marks that I make are repetitive and fragmented to mirror the correlation between our mortality and nature and how it is all interrelated on many levels.

I am not seeking to create a body of work in which the inspiration is clearly in focus, rather I am attempting to document the impressions and emotive qualities something normally overlooked bestows upon my spirit.

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