Jennifer Gowen

I am a practising artist working in my own studio in the Sutherland Shire, Sydney. My passion is art. I have been involved in the art world for many years now, having operated my own art gallery (for 13 years) on the mid north coast of N.S.W. I completed two years full time at two Sydney art schools and three years part time, gaining a Diploma of Fine Arts (majoring in Painting and Sculpture) and an Advanced Diploma in Fine Arts (majoring in Painting). In 2011, as Assistant Co-ordinator/Co-Curator & exhibitor, I travelled on a self-funded art-related field trip to Afghanistan, to live and work in Kabul. The Coordinator and myself took the works of 50 prominent Australian artists for an Exhibition of Australian Contemporary Art in the capital, Kabul - the first international exhibition of Australian art in the country. It was a positive and life-changing experience for me and has resulted in a deep passion for Afghanistan, its people and its art.

I create art because...

I not only enjoy working and creating in my studio but I feel driven to want to express my feelings and experiences through my artwork.

I am different to most artists because...

I like to paint the world I see around me whether it be in Australia or anywhere else on my travels. I have a strong layperson's interest in archaeology and am very interested in megalithic stone structures I have encountered throughout the world and the patina and ancient signs relating to them.

When you look at my art, the thing I want you to feel is...

I am happy if the viewer finds whatever he/she likes in my works -- be it colour, shapes, textures, patterns etc. I hope the viewer finds enough in my works to want to buy and live with my artwork. It is personal to me, maybe it can become a personal part of someone else's life.

The thing I most want to say to non-artists is...

Art strives and hopefully communicates and touches others that view artworks. I am happy when a viewer sees whatever he/she sees in my work. It does not have to be what I saw and experienced when I created it. We all have the ability to see our own visions in a work -- that is great, I feel!

I believe art is an important part of our lives because...

Without art in our lives, it would be a colourless and joyless world!