Mary Bowen

Mary Bowen’s multidisciplinary practice extends beyond painting into textile, sculpture, installation and ceramics, creating immersive works that blur the boundaries between memory, symbolism and the subconscious. A graduate of Edinburgh College of Art in 2022, Bowen works from her studio in Dartmoor, painting from the mind’s eye and using automatic drawing techniques to access instinctive imagery and emotional landscapes.

Working intuitively, Bowen allows her subconscious to guide the formation of compositions, where everyday objects, fragments of memory and symbolic motifs emerge and evolve into a personal visual language. Her works often inhabit surreal, dreamlike spaces that balance the familiar with the uncanny, while expressive mark-making and nuanced colour palettes evoke atmosphere and emotion. Influenced by the shifting colours and textures of the Dartmoor landscape — from wild heather and tangled gorse to changing skies and rugged terrain — Bowen’s paintings carry an earthy, tactile quality that deepens their sense of place and atmosphere.

STUDIO: DARTMOOR, UK