Artist of the Month March 2019

Audrey Kay Dowling

Westfield, NY

Audrey Kay Dowling attended SUNY New Paltz, where she received her Art Education degree.  She was an Art and Gifted and Talented teacher for 30 years.  During these years Audrey also continued keeping her art career going with active showing.  She also has owned and runs Portage Hill Art Gallery with her husband in western New York State for the past 37 years.  

How and when did you start creating art?

I started creating quite young in my father’s barn by sticking stuff together, using clay I dug from the creek and drawing on any paper I could find.

What media and genres do you work in?

I work with mixed media that combines printmaking with other forms of 2D drawing, collage and painting.  I like to watercolor and use oils en plein air on location.  And I also have worked with clay for most of my lifetime. 

Who or what are your influences?

I have so many influences and they are not all traditional art sources.  Good movies or good books, wonderful travels, hikes in the woods, swimming in clean water, watching the sun and weather changes, and bird watching all feed me artistically.  I also love going to museums and art galleries wherever I travel and I am fascinated with the biographies and autobiographies of other artists from all different times.  If I had to answer who, I would probably say that the Group of Seven, particularly Tom Thompson and Lawren Harris along with Emily Carr and Charles Burchfield all informed me to strike out and find and trust my own voice.  I love the way all of these painters handled paint while giving us their unique visions.  I could list at least 100 other artists who works intrigues me.

What was your inspiration for Full Moon in the Backyard?

I have my dogs to thank for the inspiration for "Full Moon in the Backyard".  One very cold full moon winter night my dogs were calling to be let out at 3 AM. Yipes!  I did not want to get up from the warm bed and go out with them, but I knew I had to. I had been contemplating new ideas for a new winter block print mixed media piece based on my winter backyard- a yearly process for me.  As soon as I hit the backyard with them...there it was!  The full moon shooting down light through the trees.  There were light fluffy snowflakes dancing down and landing on the heavily laden snowy branches of the pines.  And tree shadows stretched out across the snowy ground.  I added crows and owls to this piece because I have seen all of them frequently in this backyard at various times.  A screech owl lives in our metal barn sending out its eerie call and supervising us from the rafters when we are in there working.  The snowy owl is a infrequent winter visitor and the other owls come and go over time.  The crows are a constant feature in our backyard.  Crows and owls have a convoluted relationship with each other that I find fascinating.  It pleases me that the editors picked this piece as the Grand Prize winner for this contest!

Describe your creative process?

I start all of my work with thinking about what I want to convey.  Sometimes a scene will speak to me.  I am always drawing and painting in my mind.  When I start a print I will draw directly outside or out the window onto the block I will be carving.  After carving I print the piece, either doing just one color or choosing to reduction print the same block carving more away for each different color or carve multiple blocks for each color change.  Once I finish the print, I start to play with variations of the piece and ways to expand beyond the borders of the block.

What are you working on currently?

I am working on a spring woodland piece that combines some black and white printing that has me thinking about how the positive and negative lines are working together.  I have started to add some gouache painting and will also be adding either more painting, charcoal drawing or possibly pastels or pen and ink.  As I work along I will make the final decisions.

What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

I am planning on continuing to build my national/ international reputation.  Receiving this recognition is wonderful.

Where can people view/purchase your work (gallery, website, etc)?

My work is always available at Portage Hill Art Gallery found in Chautauqua County in western New York State or at www.portagehillgallery.com  .  I also post new work frequently on FB as Portage Hill Art Gallery and Instagram