It’s something we know even as children as we flip through storybooks: Stories are just better with visuals.
At Gallery Los Olivos during May the story is all about the visual. The gallery will present An Eclectic Storybook featuring multimedia artist Margie Bowker and jeweler Eddie Aurand.
For Bowker, a rich and colorful story begins in the land where she was born. Bowker’s paintings reflect the memories of a childhood spent on a South African farm near the rural Xhosa people, a tribe of Nelson Mandela’s. Bowker studied the tribal people around her, fascinated by their customs like the rain dance performed by the two prettiest daughters—“It usually rained right after,” Bowker said—and the tradition of the males taking many wives—“The first wife was allowed to smoke,” she said.
Bowker’s sunny Santa Maria studio is lined with scenes from tribal life, both in paintings and miniature dolls fashioned after the Xhosa women.
“The women are just so colorful and so beautiful, and sometimes, so funny,” Bowker said, pointing to a painting of an animated conversation between two tribal women carrying babies on their backs.
Bowker was raised and educated in South Africa. And thanks to a native nanny, she even speaks the Xhosa language, something that was surprising to people the last time she returned to South Africa.
“Can you imagine, this American woman speaking their language?” she said.
Bowker’s paintings also include non-tribal South African life. Many of her paintings feature ladies dining and chatting. Her most sought-after paintings include her trademark: ladies wearing striped rugby socks. Other paintings include sights and people in different European countries.
Her favorite experience was when she didn’t have enough ladies to paint and so she asked them to bring their boyfriends, who naturally assumed they’d be portrayed as tough guys.
“I had them dress up as ladies. They weren’t expecting that,” Bowker said.
This will be Bowker’s first time as a featured artist at the Gallery Los Olivos. She will be joined by Aurand, who specializes in silver, clay, and diachronic glass for her wearable art.
Aurand said she looks to the shapes and colors of nature for inspiration for her pieces.
“I especially like the color combinations that you find in the coral reefs. I duplicate those color sets in my Swarovski crystal choices,” she said.
Her love of art and structural design motivate her work in many ways. Often it’s the tiniest detail that inspires her.
“For instance, I am very fascinated by the spiral of a little, woody burr that attaches itself to my dog’s hair whenever we play outside,” she explained. “I use the spiral a lot when adding crystals and pearls to my necklaces.”
She said in her “other life” she was a structural engineer, so she constructs her pieces to be strong, yet comfortable to wear. That instinct also makes her a bit of a perfectionist.
“I sometimes doubt my ability to solve the design problems in a ‘timely’ manner, meaning I hate it when I spend all day on a necklace and then not like the result,” she said.
For the most part, Aurand said, her work is rewarding and she loves the freedom she has to perfect her pieces to her standards and knows that her clients appreciate that attention to detail.
“I can custom design objects that completely reflect my specific tastes; I don’t have to settle. And I like it when people get excited by something I’ve made,” Aurand said.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone is inspired by lots of coffee. She can be contacted at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 29 – May 6, 2010.
