Backyard Figs, June, 24 x 18 inches, oil on canvas.
38 december 2021
WBM
“I AM fascinated with
reflective color; every-thing
projects its color.
I love painting glass
and metal for this rea-son.
I love the way it distorts.
If I’m painting apples, I need
to understand how does the
inside work, how does it curve
out and in,” she says. “It’s just
a world I get to go live in, this
world of what’s happening on
the canvas.”
One could view the flat and
sometimes empty farmland
of eastern North Carolina as
commonplace scenery or just
another car ride. Not Rowe. Her
annual anniversary trip with her
husband to the North Carolina
Zoo became The Road Home.
She captures how the sky
changes from cool to warm as
the day passes over flat land-scapes,
and the comfortable
feeling of a drive as we inch
closer to our destination. Home
differs for all of us, but viewers
can imagine their own tangible
haven.
Rowe plans to continue
focusing on food, including
red okra, trout and even
ricefields, which she deems
quintessential Carolina. In her
space at Acme Studios, she
hopes to tell narratives that
find a home in another viewer’s
interpretation.
Even as a late bloomer,
Rowe is finding her rhythm and
response while encouraging
others to take a second look at
daily occurrences.
“We do this because we
can’t not. It’s fundamental,
we have to paint, make, create
in some way. It was always on
my bucket list to be an artist,”
she says. “I feel grateful when
someone responds to my
painting, it’s an honor if you
engage with it. That’s the
luxury of being an artist. I
paint what moves me and if it
moves somebody else, that’s
the icing on the cake.”
The Road Home 1, 20 x 20 inches, oil on canvas. The Road Home 2, 20 x 20 inches, oil on canvas.