Sketching in China

    Sallie Bowen's artwork reflects her philosophy: "To participate in art is to celebrate life. Our short existence demands that we give full attention to art and to life. Being an artist is both an honor and a responsibility to spend time wisely in producing the best work."

    Bowen has been drawing and painting for most of her life. Her art is an autobiography: subject matter comes from her own experiences, travel, sketches, and recollections.

    Her paintings evolve. At times, the transformation is a slow process. Other times, it can marvelously "flow" from one stage to another with little effort. Bowen is delighted that something could come from "nothing", that is, from no pre-conceived idea. Color may be arbitrary, giving the work a more personal touch. Shapes come out of negative spaces and these "found shapes" must work with the "internal logic" of the painting.

Background: East coast born, Sallie graduated from Lake Forest College, Illinois in 1968 with a B.A. in Art History. Weekends during college, she studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. Soon after graduation, she headed to Montana for what was to be a summer volunteer program in Boulder. This turned out to be the beginning of a new life, career, and home.

    Once residing in Montana, she completed a Master's Degree in Education at the University of Montana, Billings while finishing work for a B.A. in Fine Art.

Painting in Japan

    Sallie has combined a sense of adventure along with her passion for painting. In 1985, she studied painting in the People's Republic of China at the Hangzhou's Zhejiang Art Academy. Her painting travels have also taken her to Greece, Italy, Turkey, France, Wales and Japan. She has returned to France numerous times to paint, speak French and for the "joie de vivre." and is looking forward to another French adventure in 2013. Japan in 2006, was a fulfillment of a life-long dream. Inn 2011 are two very different, but exciting trips: just returned from a sailing trip with three friends in the British Virgin Islands, allowed some time to sketch but mostly to sail, snorkel, and swim.

February 2011 saw a trip to Israel and Jordan. Petra was most intriguing.  Paul Blumenthal and Sallie, in a  month-long show shared "The Paradox of Israel from Two Perspectives" in 2011  at the Main Stope Gallery in  Butte, Montana.

    Bowen's awards have been numerous and her inclusion in national juried shows have taken her work to Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee and California. In 1999 she won the Montana Watercolor Society's President's Award in the national juried show "Watermedia", Best of Show in the Meadowlark Art Review in Helena, elected to the Permanent Collection of the Montana Institute of Art, selected for the Northwest Artists Calendar in 1991. Her painting "Prince William Sound" was chosen for the book cover of Season of Dead Water, published by Breitenbush. Requested to paint an Easter egg to be used in the 1986 White House Easter Egg Roll, it is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. She won the Mobil Easel Award in Louisiana Watercolor Society's International Juried Exhibit in 1986. Her work is in private collections in England, Canada, France, Japan and throughout the U.S. Her "Solo Yellow" accepted for the 2007 Northwest Watercolor Society's Show in Mercer Island, Washington. Most recently, she received a Second Place Award for her "Storm over the butte" watercolor, in the Butte Copper City Artists' show "Montana Interpretations" in June of 2011.

"Entrance to the Nabatean Kingdom" watercolor

"Entrance to the Nabatean Kingdom" was accepted in the 2011 "Watermedia", a national juried show sponsored by the Montana Watercolor Society  at the Bigfork Museum of Art & History, Bigfork, Montana. The inspiration came after a trip to Jordan and Israel earlier in 2011, visiting the ancient city of Petra.

Having taught in public schools for over 27 years, Bowen now teaches drawing and watercolor privately in her studio and gives workshops around the state.
For more information or to schedule a workshop, please email the artist at sbowen@montana-artist.com.

Of her life and career as an artist, Bowen says "this life is thoroughly exciting, demanding, varied and satisfying. To work hard creating art is pure joy. To be able to travel and do art is just an added benefit."