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Images from Paul Bowen’s Wood Light at The Putney School
I was fortunate to catch the last day of Paul Bowen’s exquisite, yet bold and expansive, wood sculpture show last week. I’ve known Paul since 1995. I was a fellow at The Fine Arts Work Center, where Paul served as visual coordinator. I remember being immediately drawn to his sculptures. He is a generation or two older than I am. As both of us grew up in foreign countries and became sculptors after working with paintings, I feel an affinity to his path as an artist. He generously accepts nature, history and the physicality of found materials in seeing through an essence that conveys what it is to live. The human quality he assembles through his practice shines with the dignity and gracefulness of a survivor. When he came into the building to take down the show, he saw me and broke into a big smile. I was as happy to see him as seeing his fantastic show. We confirmed the passage of time in how we both aged. We laughed together. It always warms my heart to feel connected to someone through art.