Gowen was raised in New Hampshire and Nigeria. She now travels regularly throughout the western United States. For this artist the landscape of the west provides "a splendid opportunity for new paintings, infused with an equally brilliant, but different, light" than that of Nigeria.
"Everything changes while you paint. Living things move. The light alters, hours pass, and by the time you rinse the brushes the image you sought is gone. Artists were, and are the premier magicians of time and place. We try to stop the hours, growth and change, age and the death of what we love…We do not only catch the physical presence, but the moment snatched within the shadows of its emotion made visible." - Robin Gowen
To the gradually expanding list of cultural traditions defining Christmastime in Santa Barbara, we must fully acknowledge “100 Grand,” if it hasn’t already had its place secured on the official list.
Now in its seventh year and looking healthy and splendid, “100 Grand” is the pithily, cryptically and a accurately named exhibition at Sullivan Goss that offers art-hungry (and neophyte art-buying) Santa Barbarans a crack at 100 artworks priced under $1,000.
EDUCATION
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (Continuing Education)
Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, Connecticut
1979 B.A., Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts
1975 Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire
Senior Staff School, Ibadan, Nigeria
EXHIBITIONS
Solo Exhibitions (selected list):
2019 New Winds, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2017 Break in the Weather, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2015 "Robin Gowen: Landmark", Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2013 "Robin Gowen: 16 Years Later," Faculty Club, Santa Barbara, CA
2013 "Robin Gowen: Night Must Wait", Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2011 "Robin Gowen: The Color of Shadow and The Texture of Light", Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2009 "Robin Gowen: The Corner of My Eye", Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2007 "Robin Gowen: Nature Takes Its Course", Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2004 "Soft Light Serenade", Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2002 "Painter of the Hills", Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2001, 1998 Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
1997 Faculty Club, Santa Barbara, CA
1996 Johnson Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA
1996, 1995, 1994 Gallery Los Olivos, Los Olivos, CA
1995 Faulkner West Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1995, 1988(?) Gallery 113, Santa Barbara, CA
1980 University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
Group Exhibitions (selected list):
2004 "Soft Light Serenade", Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
2003 Fielding Institute, Santa Barbara, CA
2003-1996 Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA
1995 Gallery 1000, Carmel, CA
1999, 1996, 1995 OAK Group, Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA (guest artist)
1996, 1995, 1994 Gallery Los Olivos, Los Olivos, CA
1991, 1990 Santa Barbara Artwalk, Santa Barbara, CA (juried shows)
1984, 1983 Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences, Randolph, VT
1982 Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT
