Paul Bowen

For thirty years I lived on Cape Cod where driftwood was a plentiful source of materials for my sculpture, and could be gathered just a few yards from my studio.

My wife and I have lived next to a covered bridge in Vermont for nineteen years now, and here I scavenge, from river banks, dams and burn piles. In 2011 Hurricane Irene caused immense damage throughout the area, bringing pieces of houses, decks, furniture and all manner of household goods down river, spreading them all over the countryside and even out to the Atlantic Ocean. Ironically a resource of materials for many years to come.

Pieces of fish box, beehive frames, sun bleached boards and fragments of old sails, some gathered years ago, find their way into structures that are simply built, but bear in mind texture, color and space. These days I particularly consider how some connect me with family members now long dead, architects, a ship’s carpenter and my grandfather who worked in a hardware store and engraved name-plates for coffins, in his spare time.

~Paul Bowen

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