THE GIFT
Joan Bohlig, Sandra Bowden, Susan Hunt-Wulkowicz,
Elizabeth Rowely & Heather Smith-Jones

“The Gift” is a show of five women artist sharing the gift of their stories and talents at Signs of Life Gallery, Lawrence, Kansas.  To open the show Saturday, December 2nd, there will be an open house and tea in the gallery from 1PM-4PM.   This will be an opportunity to meet the two local artists Elizabeth Rowley and Heather Smith Jones.  Printmaker Susan Hunt-Wulkowicz, from Janesville, Wisconsin, will also be at the open house to meet the public.  The community will have a chance to share a “gift” of their own by bringing a new toy for “Toys for Tots” and dropping it off at Signs of Life during the open house and throughout the holiday season.

About the Artists:

Joan Bohlig received her MFA in printmaking from Alfred University and has maintained a studio in Minnesota since 1963.  She began work on her popular “Etchings on Biblical Themes” series in 1974 and has had solo exhibitions of these prints in over 100 venues.  She writes about the work: “these etchings are an attempt to make something which might have a positive effect on the lives of those who live with them.” 

Sandra Bowden’s art could be described as “powerful beauty.”  Over a forty year career, Bowden has married Hebrew text into golden works of art which “extends its meaning.”
Weaving the ancient with the modern she describes herself as “going medieval”.  In short, her art embodies mystery.  “Scribes and illuminators have preserved the written word with devotion …many manuscripts were elaborately decorated with painted elements, glided surfaces and great imagination.  Their beauty inspired my Illuminations.

Susan Hunt-Wulkowicz’s etchings and lithographs are original prints; printed in black and hand-colored with watercolors, the prints are then signed and numbered in limited editions.  Her works have been widely exhibited in national and international print competitions.  Susan’s works are highly collectible and shown through out the United States and Japan.  Susan’s rich life reflects her highly detailed and intimate art.
Her prints are like books taking the viewer from a panoramic scene to the small details of the character of the land.

Elizabeth Rowely’s art has been inspired by her growing up in a world rich in visual art.  Her father, Patric Rowely, grew up knowing Prairie Printmakers William and Betty Dickerson, mowing their lawn in order to pay for the art lessons he took from them.  His art and those of his friends are embedded in Elizabeth’s visual imagination.  She describes the process of her art as both formal and emotive.  “There is a lot of adding paint and scraping out.  From an emotive standpoint, the physical process of layering, scraping away and peeling away layers, is really the layers of my emotions being revealed, concealed and scraped away.”  Elizabeth paints encaustic/ mixed media atmospheric landscapes.  She also does plien-air and continues to experiment with collage.

Heather Smith-Jones considers herself to be a contemporary artist.  She draws and paints on panel and paper using a lot of handmade painting mediums. She also does a technique she calls “pinhole” where she pierces a paper with a needle in order to create patterns, text, and imagery.   Heather also teaches at the Lawrence Art Center in their art based pre-school program.  She describes her work as bringing something good into the lives of her viewers.   “I hope I am offering people something interesting, surprising, personal, hopeful, and honest to look at, think about, feel, and experience.”