Paul Bowen

Artist Bio Artist Work

Click HERE to see the feature article on Paul Bowen by Louis Postel in New England Home

Click HERE to read Mike Ives' feature article about Paul Bowen in Seven Days, Vermonts Independent Voice

Click HERE to see Paul Bowen featured in the Electronic Poetry Review

Paul Bowen makes earthy sculptures from found wood, sticks and scraps of metal which also incorporate tar and plaster.  Circles, squares, cones, wedges, and a brawny L-shape that recalls the silhouette of a fishing boat inhabit his abstract sculptures. Several of his smaller sculptures consist of a plaster sphere from which wood structures, like simple houses, or sticks and organic debris, project out, as if emerging from a shell. His works on paper executed in vibrant red continue his exploration of the L-shape and are reminiscent of the fishing draggers from which he finds inspiration.

Solo Exhibitions

2008    Paul Bowen, Drawings, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
    Paul Bowen, Sculpture, Christine Price Gallery, Castleton College, Castleton, VT

2007    Paul Bowen, Recent Work, ArtStrand, Provincetown, MA

2005    Paul Bowen, Sculpture: 1974-2004, Jaffe-Friede & Strauss Galleries, Dartmouth College,
        Hanover, NH

2004    Paul Bowen: Sculpture 1974-2004, The Cape Museum of Fine Arts, Dennis, MA
    Paul Bowen, Sculpture, DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA
    Paul Bowen: Recent Works, Beshèrt Gallery, Montclair, NJ

2003    Paul Bowen, Provincetown: Paper & Wood, Brick Walk Bookshop & Fine Art, West Hartford, CT
    Paul Bowen, Koussevitzky Art Gallery, Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, MA
    Paul Bowen, Sculpture, DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2002    Paul Bowen, Sculpture, DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2001        Wood and Paper, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
    DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA

2000    T.J. Walton Gallery, Provincetown, MA

1999        T.J. Walton Gallery, Provincetown, MA
    Koussevitzky Art Gallery, Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, MA

1998    Wood Works, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
    Sculpture, New England School of Art and Design, Suffolk University, Boston, MA
    New Work, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA

1997    Recent Work, Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, MA
    The Signal Drawings, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA

1996    Selected Works, 1976-1996, Takara Gallery, Houston, TX
    Paul Bowen, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA
Recent Sculpture, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY

1994    New Sculpture, Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, MA

1993    A Survey Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA
    Waterfront, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA

1991    Sculpture, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA

1990-91 Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY

1989    Recent Works on Paper, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA
Saidye Bronfman Centre, Montreal, Canada
Vereniging Voor Het Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst Te Gent (The Association of the Museum of
        Contemporary Art), Ghent, Belgium
Saint Peter’s Church, New York, NY           

1987-85 Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY

1986    George Ciscle Gallery, Baltimore, MD
    Graham Modern Gallery, New York, NY

1985        Graham Modern Gallery, New York, NY
    Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

1979    Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA

Selected Two Person Exhibitions

2007    Paul Bowen and Pat de Groot:, Recent Work, Brick Walk Bookshop & Fine Art, West Hartford, CT

2006    Paul Bowen/Brian Cohen: Stern to Bow, Selected Works on Paper, Brick Walk Fine Art,
        West Hartford, CT
    Paul Bowen and Irèn Handschuh: Sidetracks, New Hope, PA   

2001    Paul Bowen: Sculpture and Don Kimes: Painting, Jaffe-Friede and Strauss Galleries, Dartmouth
        College, Hanover, NH

2000    Paul Bowen and Pat de Groot, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA

1997    Paul Bowen and David Shapiro, Numark Gallery, Washington, DC

1996    Paul Bowen and Helen Miranda Wilson, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA

1987    Paul Bowen/James Hansen, East End Gallery, Provincetown, MA

1986    Paul Bowen -Sculpture/Jack Tworkov-Drawings, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA

1985    Carl Apfelschnitt, Drawings and Paintings/Paul Bowen, Drawings and Sculpture, Bayer Fine Arts,
            Provincetown, MA

1983    Robert Mapplethorpe, Fashion/Head Shots/Paul Bowen, Recent Sculpture, Hardison Fine Arts Ltd.,
            New York, NY

1981    Paul Bowen and Bert Yarborough, Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA
    Paul Bowen/Ken Horii, Soroban Gallery, Wellfleet, MA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2008     Free Reign, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
    Art on Paper, The Toyota Museum, Toyota, Japan

2007    Four Sculptors—Other Dimensions, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT

2005-07 ArtStrand, Provincetown, MA

2006    Collage and Light, Marian Graves Mugar Art Gallery, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH
    Sculptural Elements, Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellsworth, ME
    35th Anniversary Exhibition, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA

2005   Triage: Paul Bowen, MP Landis and Bert Yarborough Collaborations, 55 Mercer Gallery, New York, NY

2004    Sculpture, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA
    Feast or Famine: Artists and Food, DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA
    Three, Battelle Harding Gallery, Greenfield, MA

2003    Sculpture, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA

2002    The Charles H. Carpenter Collection, Fifty Years of Supporting the New
        Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT
    Ten Artists from Provincetown, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2001    Paul Bowen: Sculpture, and Drawings from New York Galleries, curated by Bob Monk for Cherry Stone
        Gallery, Wellfeet, MA
    The Altered Landscape, LFL Gallery, New York, NY

1999    Square Roots, curated by Ladd Spiegel, Cecilia de Torres, Ltd., New York, NY
Survey 1998, curated by Pasquale Natale and Tom McCanna, Provincetown Art Association and
Museum, Provincetown, MA

1998    Utopia, The Silas-Kenyon Gallery at the Schoolhouse Center for Art and Design, Provincetown, MA
    Drawing Invitational, curated by Bob Bailey and Tom McCanna,
    Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA
    FABRICations, Yukiko Lunday Gallery, Houston, TX

1998    Long Point Gallery at the Cape Museum of Fine Art, Dennis, MA
    Long Point Gallery at FAWC, Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA
    Long Point Gallery Tribute, Nardin Gallery, New York, NY
    Artists’ Books, Invitational, Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, MA
    Subtext, DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA

1997    Group Exhibition, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY

1996    Outermost Sculpture, The Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, MA
    Odyssey of a Collector: Charles H. Carpenter, Jr., The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

1995        New Forms from the Fine Arts Work Center: A Sculpture Show, Cape Museum of Arts, Dennis, MA
    Selected Recent Acquisitions, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA

1994    Gallery Viva, Kawasaki, Japan
    Sculpture in the Garden, Cape Museum of Fine Arts, Dennis, MA
Important Papers, Walker/Kornbluth Art Gallery, Fairlawn, NJ

1993    A Place in the Universe, The Higgins Gallery, Cape Cod Community College, West Barnstable, MA
    More Books as Art, Heckscher Museum, Huntington, NY
Ways to See, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA

1991    The Far Field: Six Artists in America, Zephyrus Contemporary Art/
    Excellent Coast, Yokohama, Japan; Toyota Corporation, Kobe, Japan

1991    Birds as Critics: Artists" Birdhouses, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA
Twelve Artists, Twelve Months, E. N. S. Graphics/U.F.O. Gallery, Provincetown, MA

1990    Nature"s Materials, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND
8 Artists/8 Visions, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
    Origins: Six Contemporary Sculptors, M13 Gallery, New York, NY

1989    Contemporary Provincetown, curated by Ann Wilson Lloyd, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA
    The Age of Pluralism, Centro di Cultura Ausoni, Rome, Italy
    Group Show, Glenn Dash Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Working in Wood, Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA

1988    Innovations in Contemporary Sculpture, Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT
    David and Goliath, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY

1987    Sculpture on the Wall, Boston College, Boston, MA

1986    Sculpture on the Wall, curated by Larry Aldrich and Ellen O"Donnell, Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT
        The Tar Show, Attitude Art, New York, NY
Crosscurrents, curated by Ellen O"Donnell and Helen A. Harrison, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton,
        Long Island, New York, NY

1985    Myth/Culture, Jack Shainman Gallery, Washington, DC
Southern Exposure, Brockton Museum, Brockton, MA

1984    Invitational Exhibition, McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX
Four Sculptors: Ritual and Artifact, Zabriskie Gallery, curated by James L. Reinish, New York, NY   
Eight Sculptures: Two Decades, Oriel, Welsh Arts Council Gallery, Cardiff, Wales

1983    Found Objects, Marisa del Re Gallery, New York, NY
Group Exhibition, Impressions Gallery, Boston, MA

1982        100:One Hundredth Annual Summer Exhibition, Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, Plas Mawr,
            Conwy, Wales

1976        Origins, Welsh Arts Council, Cardiff, Wales
The Fall, Welsh Arts Council, Cardiff, Wales, (travelling exhibition)

1974    Edinburgh Arts, Richard DeMarco Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

Museum Collections

The Association of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium

Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama

Cape Museum of Fine Art, Dennis, MA

DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

School of Art Museum and Gallery at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND

Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, OH

University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, Wales

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN

Public and Corporate Collections

Boston Public Library, Boston, MA

Bodelwyddan Castle Trust, Bodelwyddan Castle, Denbighshire, Wales

Central Sports Club of Japan, Chiba, Japan

The Church of Saint Mary of the Harbor, Provincetown, MA

Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA

School of Art Museum and Gallery at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales

Mercantile Bank of Saint Louis, MO

Meditech Corporation, Westwood, MA

Progressive Corporation, Cleveland, OH

Prudential Insurance Collection, Newark, NJ

Smith College, Northampton, MA

Swiss Bank Collection, New York, NY

Town of Provincetown, Provincetown, MA

Uchidayoukou Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, Wales

Welsh Arts Council, Cardiff, Wales

Commissions

Cape Museum of Fine Arts, Dennis, MA, Windrush II, wood sculpture

Whalers" Wharf, Provincetown, MA, large-format photographic installation from original collage

The Mall at Chestnut Hill, Chestnut Hill, MA, Red Fleet, White Fleet, fabric banner

Lumen Editions, Cambridge, MA, book cover for Starry, Starry Night:Provincetown’s Response to the AIDS
    Epidemic by Jeanne Braham & Pamela Peterson

Provincetown Arts Press, Provincetown, MA, frontispiece for Slow Burn by Ellen Dudley

Quality Paperback Club, Qualiteria: The QPB Literary Journal, New York,NY

Weslyan University Press, book cover for Sea Room by Maria Flook

Galleria Tommaseo, Trieste, Italy, Moltiplicazione, limited edition of multiples    

Uchidayoukou Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, Shapeshifting, collaboration with poet Robert Lunday

Welsh Arts Council, The Fall, six drawings

Awards and Appointments

2007        Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grant

2005        Artist-in-Residence, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

1993        Sculpture Fellowship, New England Foundation for the Arts

1987        Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant

1981        Massachusetts Artists Foundation Fellowship

1979        Artist-in-Residence, Bear Mountain State Park, NY

1978        Award to Artists, Welsh Arts Council

1977-79    Hudson D. Walker Fellowship, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA

1972-74    Hoffberger Fellow, Maryland Institute, Baltimore, MD

Curatorial Projects

2006        Former Fellows 1994-95 Exhibition, Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Fine Arts Work Center,
             Provincetown, MA

2004        Louise Bourgeois, Sculpture and Drawings, Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Fine Arts Work Center,
             Provincetown, MA

1990        The Assembled Image, curated by Paul Bowen and Jim Forsberg, Provincetown Art Association
             and Museum, Provincetown, MA

Teaching Experience

2008        Visiting Professor, Winter Term, Department of Studio Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
        Visiting Artist, Art Institute of Boston, Boston, MA
        Visiting Artist, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
        Sculpture Instructor, Summer Workshops, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
        Sculpture Instructor, Great River Arts Institute, Bellows Falls, VT

2007        Visiting Sculptor, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
        Sculpture Instructor, Visual Arts Programs, Great River Arts Institute, Bellows Falls, VT
        Sculpture Instructor, River Gallery School, Brattleboro, VT
        Visiting Lecturer, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH

1995-2007    Sculpture Instructor, Summer Workshop Program, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA

2006        Sculpture Instructor, AVA Gallery, Lebanon, NH

1983-2006    Sculpture Instructor, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Truro, MA

2005        Visiting Lecturer, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH

1993        Sculpture Instructor, Provincetown Art Association and Museum School

1992        Visiting Artist, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT

1991        Visiting Artist, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

1988        Visiting Lecturer, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY
        Visiting Lecturer, Center for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI

1987        Visiting Lecturer, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, MA
        Instructor, Four Sculptors Program, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

1984        Visiting Lecturer, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA

1982        Visiting Lecturer, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

1979        Visiting Lecturer, Art Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Other Professional Experience

2004        Award to Artists Juror, Ohio Arts Council, Columbus, OH

1993-2004     Co-founder and Project Coordinator, Artist’s Eye: Children as Curators, Provincetown Art
             Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

1993-95    Visual Arts Coordinator, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA

1993        Visual Arts Juror, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA

Other Activities

1999-Present    Advisory Board Member, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA

1991-1995     Education Committee, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

1990-1995    Collections Committee, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

1990        Artists Advisory Board, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Truro, MA
        Arts Enrichment Committee, Veterans Memorial Elementary School, Provincetown, MA

1988-1990     Exhibition Committee, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

1986-1989    Board of Trustees, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA

1979-1989    Visual Arts Committee, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA

Education

1972-74    MFA, Hoffberger School of Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

1969-72    Diploma in Art and Design, Newport College of Art, Newport, Wales

1968-69    Prediploma Course, Chester School of Art, Chester, England