BECOMING AN ARTIST

 

I spent most of my life chasing the next milestone.

 

I was a corporate girl—an award-winning graphic designer and advertising executive. I knew who I was. I’d wanted that life since I was eleven, and I was good at it. Then everything changed.

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My parents became ill, and I stepped away from my career to care for them. What I thought would be a pause became five years of full-time caregiving. My world grew smaller. I left my home, my routine, my professional identity—and slowly, I lost my parents. Especially my mom, as Alzheimer’s carried her away in fragments.

During that time, life became quiet. Slower. Simpler. I walked with my mom in nature, adjusting my world to meet hers. Sometimes I questioned what I was doing. Then, one morning, she took my hand and said, “You make all the difference.” In that moment, everything clarified. I wasn’t winning accolades anymore, but I was doing the most important work of my life. I began to understand presence, fragments, repetition, silence, and moments of beauty during those years with my mom. Things I couldn’t have learned in a fast, verbal, results-driven world.

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After my parents passed, I didn’t know who I was without caregiving or corporate titles. A year later, at a small art show, I stumbled upon a table of tiny collages. My heart leapt! They were made of fragments—old papers, handwriting, forgotten images—assembled into quiet, beautiful narratives. Something in me recognized them immediately. I realized I had been living among fragments for years. And here they were, held together with care.

I went home and began making my own collages. Piece by piece. Not to fix what was broken—but to honor it. That’s when joy returned. And that’s how my art began.

 

WHAT I CREATE

 

My art is rooted in contemporary abstraction, yet always in conversation with the past. I try to weave a sense of history—its beauty, fragility, and imperfection—into every painting I create.

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I’m drawn to aged patinas, rough edges, muted tones, and fragments of handwriting or personal notes once treasured. Stains, imperfections, and ghostly traces all carry a haunting beauty for me. If you’ve ever wandered through an old cemetery, reading names and dates etched into weathered stones, you know the feeling I strive to capture: a quiet curiosity, a sense of presence, and a connection to those who came before us.

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I collect vintage finds—antique books, love letters, business ledgers, stamps, documents, and illustrations by artists long before cameras existed. Often the best part of a book is the handwritten inscription from the gifter, or the tactile richness of its binding. These become treasures I tear apart and repurpose, layering them into my paintings. Sometimes I chuckle while embedding a forgotten note into a piece, wondering what its author would think.

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Alongside these rescued materials, I create my own collage papers, marked and textured by hand. Combined with acrylics, graphite, charcoal, and oil pastels, they bring unexpected layers and stories to the canvas.

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My paintings rarely depict something tangible; instead, they evoke a feeling. Because my moods shift day by day, I never quite know what will emerge. Once a piece is complete, I sit with it, listen to what it whispers back, and only then do I give it a name.

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At its heart, my work is about honoring the past while creating something new—connecting lost voices and forgotten fragments to the present moment, giving them fresh life in a new form.

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"I'm not trying to make statements necessarily in my art, but I hope the viewer resonates with something within it." 

- Jen Dowdell

 

I enjoy being an exhibiting member of the Buffalo Society of Artists and the Western New York Artists Group.  I also enjoy being an active member of the Interior Design Association of WNY. I have been honored both locally and nationally for my artwork, and regularly exhibit when the opportunity arises. My artwork can be found locally in private homes and businesses, as well as Miami, Florida. ​

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For every purchase made through my website, I will donate 10% of the purchase price to the Alzheimer's Association. I am a true believer in their mission and have been a volunteer with them since 1995, long before it impacted my own family. The work they do is, unfortunately, needed now more than ever. www.alz.org