I have come to see that my work as an artist is described best as seeking connections to our past. For over fifty years I have worked in a sequence of multiple series of paintings and prints that related to archaeology findings, geological forms, early languages, musical scores, ancient illuminations and the history of art. Each of these areas of exploration has enhanced my appreciation for the great treasures from our shared past.
Reflections of Glory is my most recent work continuing this conversation of connections as a way to pay homage to the “Icons of Western Art.” This show highlights several gilded encaustic panels that recall many iconic paintings from art history. Their distinct shapes identify the historic work, but because of their solid gold surface, allow the viewer to delight in the radiance of each panel, while drawing on memory and imagination to fill in the forms.
Two multi-panel installations are featured in Reflections of Glory. Forty encaustic gilded panels and forty black panels that are incised with text, become 40 Days/40 Nights. Another multi-panels work has 100 5”x 5” gilded squares entitled One Hundred Percent.
To compliment the wall-mounted paintings, several artist’s books provide a rich three-dimensional dialog between the works. I have fixed open actual books, allowing the open face of the book to be the painted surface—many incised with text.
Artists do not merely put on canvas what can be seen. They try to uncover something beyond the range of the eyes. I believe that art is a means to illuminate both the interior life and the exterior world, both seen and unseen. I hope Reflections of Glory will lead those who see the exhibition beyond the edge of their consciousness into a place of splendor, wonder and transcendence. – Sandra Bowden
Sandra Bowden is a painter and printmaker from Chatham, Massachusetts. With over 100 one-person shows her work is in many collections including the Vatican Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, Brauer Museum, Atwood Museum, and the Haifa Museum.