Artist’s Statement
My work explores relationships, religious symbolism, metaphors, language, displacement, and the unique connection humans share with other animals. I am also interested in the way disparate elements, random marks, and unexpected occurrences can be brought together to form a whole. I prefer to have the image or experience evolve from the work itself rather than to approach the piece with a given outcome in mind. I believe the artistic idea and process are more important than the product and that, quite often, the most beautiful art is that which is most elusive and impermanent. For me making art is a meditative act of seeing and listening to something beyond myself.
My latest work, Beloved: The Egg, The Creature, The Wind was inspired by the loss of my mother to lung cancer in 2016, a dear friend’s struggle with that same disease, and my own recent travels in the cancer landscape. These events, combined with my current reflections on Christian theological concepts and Buddhist teachings, form the backdrop of this work, exploring how the divine manifests in the creatures and world around us, in both unsettling and playful ways. I believe art, like time, has the power to transform pain.
The series The Unbidden focuses on themes of identity, tenderness, faith, and aggression in intimate relationships. The series The Bouca Project explores memory and reflection on the Central African Republic (C.A.R.), a country where I lived for over three years while serving in the United States Peace Corps. C.A.R. has experienced sectarian violence and massive population displacement since 2013.
Biographical Information
Natalia Taylor Bowdoin was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia and has been a resident of Augusta, Georgia since July, 2007. She studied Environmental Art and Aesthetics and East Asian studies at Oberlin College, Ohio and holds graduate degrees from the University of Arizona and Indiana University. She is currently Associate Professor and Library Collections Coordinator at the University of South Carolina Aiken. Bowdoin served as Coordinator for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of South Carolina Aiken from 2013-2020. She also served as a Country Specialist on the Central African Republic (CAR) for the human rights organization, Amnesty International USA, from 2004-2017. Bowdoin served three and a half years in the CAR with the U.S. Peace Corps as a health educator in the early 1990’s. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Divinity from Earlham School of Religion, a Quaker seminary.
Solo Exhibitions
Beloved: The Egg, the Creature, the Wind - Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Creel-Harison Gallery - Augusta, GA - 2019
Solo Exhibit -- Artist's Local 1155 - Augusta, GA - 2014
Group and Juried Exhibitions
SEEDS Group Exhibition - Westobou Gallery - Augusta, GA - 2019 (Juried)
South Carolina Festival of Flowers Art Exhibit - Greenwood Arts Center - Greenwood, SC - 2019 (Juried)
Southern Observatory Group Exhibition – Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art - Augusta, GA - 2015
Southern Observatory Group Exhibition – Columbia County Library – Augusta, GA - 2015, 2013
TedX Augusta Group Exhibition - theClubhou.se - Augusta, GA - 2015
Art and Spirituality Group Exhibition - Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta - Augusta, GA - 2014
Southern Observatory Group Exhibition - Greenblatt Library, Medical College of Georgia - Augusta, GA - 2012
Southern Observatory Group Exhibition - Arts and Heritage Center of North Augusta - North Augusta, SC - 2012
Southern Observatory Group Exhibition - Erskine College - Due West, SC - 2011
My work explores relationships, religious symbolism, metaphors, language, displacement, and the unique connection humans share with other animals. I am also interested in the way disparate elements, random marks, and unexpected occurrences can be brought together to form a whole. I prefer to have the image or experience evolve from the work itself rather than to approach the piece with a given outcome in mind. I believe the artistic idea and process are more important than the product and that, quite often, the most beautiful art is that which is most elusive and impermanent. For me making art is a meditative act of seeing and listening to something beyond myself.
My latest work, Beloved: The Egg, The Creature, The Wind was inspired by the loss of my mother to lung cancer in 2016, a dear friend’s struggle with that same disease, and my own recent travels in the cancer landscape. These events, combined with my current reflections on Christian theological concepts and Buddhist teachings, form the backdrop of this work, exploring how the divine manifests in the creatures and world around us, in both unsettling and playful ways. I believe art, like time, has the power to transform pain.
The series The Unbidden focuses on themes of identity, tenderness, faith, and aggression in intimate relationships. The series The Bouca Project explores memory and reflection on the Central African Republic (C.A.R.), a country where I lived for over three years while serving in the United States Peace Corps. C.A.R. has experienced sectarian violence and massive population displacement since 2013.
Biographical Information
Natalia Taylor Bowdoin was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia and has been a resident of Augusta, Georgia since July, 2007. She studied Environmental Art and Aesthetics and East Asian studies at Oberlin College, Ohio and holds graduate degrees from the University of Arizona and Indiana University. She is currently Associate Professor and Library Collections Coordinator at the University of South Carolina Aiken. Bowdoin served as Coordinator for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of South Carolina Aiken from 2013-2020. She also served as a Country Specialist on the Central African Republic (CAR) for the human rights organization, Amnesty International USA, from 2004-2017. Bowdoin served three and a half years in the CAR with the U.S. Peace Corps as a health educator in the early 1990’s. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Divinity from Earlham School of Religion, a Quaker seminary.
Solo Exhibitions
Beloved: The Egg, the Creature, the Wind - Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Creel-Harison Gallery - Augusta, GA - 2019
Solo Exhibit -- Artist's Local 1155 - Augusta, GA - 2014
Group and Juried Exhibitions
SEEDS Group Exhibition - Westobou Gallery - Augusta, GA - 2019 (Juried)
South Carolina Festival of Flowers Art Exhibit - Greenwood Arts Center - Greenwood, SC - 2019 (Juried)
Southern Observatory Group Exhibition – Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art - Augusta, GA - 2015
Southern Observatory Group Exhibition – Columbia County Library – Augusta, GA - 2015, 2013
TedX Augusta Group Exhibition - theClubhou.se - Augusta, GA - 2015
Art and Spirituality Group Exhibition - Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta - Augusta, GA - 2014
Southern Observatory Group Exhibition - Greenblatt Library, Medical College of Georgia - Augusta, GA - 2012
Southern Observatory Group Exhibition - Arts and Heritage Center of North Augusta - North Augusta, SC - 2012
Southern Observatory Group Exhibition - Erskine College - Due West, SC - 2011
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