Artists Bio

Owen received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. Continuing in her education, she studied painting with Paul Zimmerman at Hartford Art School.

Her early career as a fabric designer influences the carefully rendered patterns that she incorporates into her still-life paintings. Whether it be the floral wallpaper behind a table or the geometric rug on top, lively patterns command attention without overpowering the work. Sections of the composition that are filled with layers of detail that engage the eye are balanced with large empty spaces. Often a clear window in the background, where the eye can rest.

Owen's airy acrylic still-life and landscape paintings breath with the freshness of a master. What interests Owen most about painting is process. One painting builds upon another in a developing pattern of growth and change. Through all of her work, she weaves a consistent thread of style -soft color, intricate pattern, and lots of air. She applies the acrylic paint with the lightness of watercolor and the detail of oil.

The light she catches as it reflects off a glass vase or a pewter pitcher has the dewy coolness of early morning. In both landscape and still-life compositions the air seems to be painted on like a sheer scrim through which we glimpse a captured image.

Artists Statement

Air is the key. I want to feel that if I were to enter one of my landscapes I would be able to breathe there. Each work leads to the next… each painting gains nourishment from the one before it.