Maria Bowers is a printmaker and painter living and working from her garden studio in East Devon. She works in the print medium of drypoint etching and also oil painting plein air and in the studio.
Trained as a graphic designer Maria took an MA in Multidisciplinary Printmaking at UWE, Bristol; completed a Diploma in Western Art History and is currently an Academician of the South West Academy (SWAc).
As a child Maria was inspired by ‘Walter Potters Museum of Curiosities’ and during her MA, she became interested in creating her own curiosities and portraits often in the form of chairs. To create her etching prints, after transferring a basic outline of her sketchbook drawing onto a thin aluminium plate, Maria draws directly onto the plate in graphite before using an etching needle to engrave the lines into the surface. Continuing the engraving with heavier needles and burnishers to obtain the light and darkest areas.
More recently Maria’s fascination with chairs developed into learning how to upholster furniture herself then sketching people working on their chairs. For two years she has been allowed to sketch the Colyford Upholstery group and some of those sketches worked up into oil paintings and paintings of other chairs on locations she has visited.
“Chairs have as much personality as the person to whom it belonged, dejected or joyful with a story to tell. As such, I see chairs in a human context, they can evoke a sense of presence, someone about to be seated or affection in their absence.” Maria
Her oil paintings en Plein Air, have led to exploring new subjects within Devon landscapes , natural features and architecture.
