Barbara Gowan is a multidisciplinary self-educated, artist based on the Isle of Wight, Uk. She has spent the last forty years devoting herself to the study of art. As an early year’s teacher in London and Brighton, facilitating the creativity of young children, Gowan experienced an epiphany. Watching the children work, re-ignited her own passion for creativity. She has been making art ever since, having set about the serious study of life drawing, painting, ceramics, and art history.

In 1997 Gowan achieved an Access to Art and Design Diploma at East Essex College. She continued her art journey throughout the lone parenting of her two sons. In the last few years, Gowan has been selected for multiple national open exhibitions, artist residencies and public engagement projects. She has taught ceramics at Quay Arts Centre, Isle of Wight, 2017- 2022, and from her home studio til 2025. Since 2021, Gowan has been a member of The Ryde Art Collective, a dynamic group of Isle of Wight contemporary artists. Her work is held in private collections in Europe and the UK.

Gowan’s work is informed by life experiences, and explores trauma, memory, and empowerment. Her practice centres on intuitive mark making and experimentation. She makes abstract paintings, mixed media, ceramic, and digital art. Reclaimed surfaces and media are used when possible. In the series, “Machine Parts”, Gowan is inspired by redundant pieces of technology, such as electrical equipment, used packaging, or ephemera. Gowan is fascinated by the paradox that the technology designed to make our lives “easier”, is contributing to our possible extinction and the destruction of the planet.

A current series, “Proof”, is concerned with a reductionist approach and materiality. The pieces feature lines of soft charcoal drawing and broad brushwork. Canvases are placed on the floor. Barbara explores the space with her body, allowing the charcoal and paintbrush to take over. The work is a celebration of the moment. Lifelong PTSD has affected Barbara’s memory, and she lives in a state of forgetfulness. Making art is an act of proof that she existed, at that time, with those materials. It brings the artist back to herself, to a place of safety and creative possibility.