CAROLE BOWKER

Carole has held a lifelong interest in the arts since she was a child and has been involved in the arts as an artist and art educator for most of her life. At an early age she was recognized for artistic performance and achievement in the arts. She has participated in local, regional and national juried exhibitions, made numerous regional and international art presentations; is and has been represented in various art galleries; has work in private collections throughout the United States and has owned and operated an art gallery. Carole studied fine arts at the Ohio State University and Youngstown State University. Graduate studies in painting and art history were pursued at Kent State University where she became deeply involved and fascinated with a knowledge of art history and the integrative role it plays in her personal interpretation and expression of nature through art. Later she completed her Master of Arts and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan and pursued post-doctoral work in Egypt, France and England studying Ancient African Heritage under noted scholar, Asa Hilliard. 

While at the University of Michigan, Carole collaborated with world renown professor of the psychology of art, Rudolf Arnheim, and researched his artistic theories rooted in nature, light and the formal qualities of art. This intensive study crystallized her thinking and lead to further probe concepts in studies of color and light in painting, augmenting her interest in exploring pigment dyed handmade paper as a fine art and the use of semi-precious stones in one-of-a-kind jewelry design. Her travels and keen interest in earthforms is evident in these investigations she continues today. 

“My work represents the aquas, blues, and pinks of the water, tans of beaches and dunes, arrays of green and brown of the forests; pink, purples, orange in sunsets and mountains, and the transformation of dawn to dusk within the circle of seasons. It also addresses beauty in form and design and echoes direct observation of the natural beauty found in earthforms of Northern New Mexico and other pristine places where I have lived and traveled. With a background in painting, art history, and the natural sciences, my approach to art and jewelry design is augmented with that of a painter’s eye and artist’s palette while gaining inspiration over many years from research into the art and life of Georgia O’Keeffe”. 

During the last several years, at various times, Carole has also been an artist-in-residence at the Inn and Spa at Loretto, Santa Fe and has exhibited and demonstrated works in jewelry at the Abiquiu Inn, Abiquiu, New Mexico, where she shows works in the gift store from time to time. Lastly, for over twenty five years to the present, she has co-owned and operated an art studio-gallery in Michigan and in Santa Fe. 

Carole’s approach to art is to portray, in a variety of media, the essence, nuance and structure of nature in the least complex way.

Carole’s art studio. with adjoining gallery, is located at 121 Camino Escondido in Santa Fe, New Mexico, just a few minutes from Historic Canyon Road.