OP_071918

opprairie.com life & Arts
the orland park prairie | July 19, 2018 | 21
Bowden highlights evolution of his work at OPPL
Laurie Fanelli, Freelance
Reporter
Outreach Services Assistant Shane Peterson (left) learns
about the work of the library’s featured artist in July, James
Bowden.
Peotone artist James
Bowden is not interested in
examining the meaning of
his work. Instead, he prefers
to let his striking abstract designs
speak for themselves.
Rather than hunting for
hidden messages in his creations,
Bowden would preferably
discuss methodology
and how the intersection of
careful planning and intuition
can inspire a compelling
vision.
On Friday, July 13, Orland
Park Public Library patrons
had the opportunity to ask
Bowden about his unique
process at the library’s
monthly Meet the Artist
event.
“Art is pretty unpractical,”
Bowden said before beginning
his presentation. “You
can get a lot of enjoyment
from it, but as far as anything
beyond that, it’s not a
practical thing.
“I just hope people enjoy
[the work]. There’s no meaning
that I try to put into it. If
they find something, fine,
but it’s not literary. It’s all
visual. And it doesn’t have
anything to do with politics,
religion or what have you.”
The true subject of
Bowden’s work is the artist
himself.
“The art is me,” he said.
“It’s intuitive. I do it that
way when I’m making the
plans. I try to develop a tension
between the shapes and
the colors to set up something.
I’m pretty intense. If
it doesn’t have an intensity,
I’m not much interested in
it.”
The Orland Park Public
Library display features a
collection of pieces Bowden
created using acrylic paint
on PVC. Geometric shapes,
negative space, bright colors
and slight textures blend together
to draw in the eye to
each bold yet subtle element.
“I see it as having a lot of
space, and I don’t know that
a lot of people would see
that, so that would be the
subtleness,” he said of one
of the pieces.
Bowden led his Meet the
Artist session as a lecture of
sort, which was not surprising,
as he spent many years
as an art professor. Former
students even came by to
hear him speak, including
Bridgeview resident Sharmon
Heim, who had Bowden
as her student-teacher advisor
when she attended Chicago
State University.
“This is a 46-year reunion
in the making,” she said.
Bowden broke down his
process by showing the
concrete steps he takes in
turning a budding idea into
a final product. Sketching,
enlarging the design with
a projector and applying it
to his PVC canvas are all
stages of his creations. He
also shared a sneak peak at a
new series he is developing
inspired by Celtic knots.
The library’s July exhibit
featuring Bowden’s work
follows a show by fellow
abstract artist Benjamin
Lowder. Outreach services
assistant Shane Peterson
enjoyed seeing how the two
artists’ similar, geometric
approaches yielded much
different results.
In August, the library will
be showcasing a different
style of art with a focus on
still lives.
“Next month we have Mr.
Zach Barnard, who does
oil paintings of everyday
scenes,” Peterson said. “It’s
going to be a much starker
contrast, because the show
will feature still lifes and
recognizable things, as opposed
to the abstract art
of Mr. Bowden and Mr.
Lowder.
“Barnard’s whole idea is
James Bowden, of Peotone, on Friday, July 13, tells library patrons how his abstract
pieces come to life during a Meet the Artist event at the Orland Park Public Library.
Photos by Laurie Fanelli/22nd Century Media
Hal Schwartz, of Homer Glen, checks out the work of James Bowden during a Meet the
Artist event.
about capturing beauty in the
mundane. Capturing those
moments that are really quite
pretty if you were to look at
them in a picture frame, instead
of just passing by.”
The work of James
Bowden can be seen on the
second floor of the Orland
Park Public Library through
the end of the month. More
information on the Artist
of the Month series can be
found at www.orlandparkli
brary.org.