When fabric and mixed media artist Donna Lee Dowdney first moved to Washington nearly 20 years ago, she finally found the time to pursue the art she always wanted to since she was a little girl.
Dowdney is a Bainbridge Island resident, moving here about 15 years ago. Before her art endeavors, she taught writing and technology in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.
“That was exciting over the years and art fell behind. I didn’t think about it,” Dowdney said of her career. “Instead, I got into the new technologies. After exploring all of the San Francisco Bay Area…we decided to explore the waters of Washington, and we didn’t turn back after that. We moved to Washington and I decided now’s the time; I’m going to go back to art.”
She found a creative arts institution that dealt with fabric arts “the way that I wanted to.” The only problem was the school was in London, and she’d have to study there for four years. However, one of the program directors there moved to La Conner to open the Gail Harker Center for Creative Arts. For 10 years, Dowdney was a student there, an experience that primed her for her art career.
“After doing that, I realized, ‘Oh, I am an artist,’” Dowdney said. “Then people wanted to see my art, and I started displaying it in various places.”
Dowdney labels herself a fabric and mixed media artist. Mixed media is artwork when more than one medium or material is used, such as fractals, thread, paint, fabric and dye, among other materials. Fractal art is a form of algorithmic art created by calculating fractal objects and representing the results as still digital images and animations. It intersects generative art and computer art, combining to produce a type of abstract art.
“I started studying fractals,” she said. “That’s where my interest in abstractions came from. The fractals and using the computer.”
Although the process is different for each piece she makes, some elements remain the same. Dowdney starts with a fractal on the computer and then intersects it with multiple layers of thread, paint, fabric, dye and beads.
She also recently delved into a new art form called acrylic pouring.
“I’m also working on something that’s pretty experimental and interesting,” Dowdney said. “You have a canvas but instead of painting with a brush, you carefully mix all your colors. Then you pour them on the canvas. Then you start tilting it and moving it, the colors start racing together. They really look cool. I’ve made about 40 different kinds. Then I’m going to have those printed on fabric and enlarged. I can use my sewing machine and add ribbons and different kinds of threads through it. Then it becomes mixed media.”
In total, Dowdney said she’s had about 80 art pieces that have been displayed across Western Washington, including Bainbridge Island, Poulsbo and Port Townsend. Many of her works have been sold. She said people really like her landscape and abstract art.
On Bainbridge, some of the places Dowdney’s work has been displayed include Winslow Art Center, Virginia Mason Clinic, BARN, BIMA, Bainbridge Arts & Crafts and Bainbridge Island Studio Tours. She has four pieces showing at BARN through July.
Each week, the time that Dowdney spends on her artwork varies, but she said it’s somewhere between 10 and 60 hours, not considering the creative time it takes to develop the idea. She likes to travel the world and visit museums as inspiration for her work. Instead of crediting particular artists as her inspiration, she credits nature such as mountains, sunsets, sunrises and the sea.
There are always challenges in the creative process, such as conceiving the ideas, creating something new, and something that people can relate to, Dowdney said. Before displaying her work in public, she enjoys it for herself at home first. “It’s rewarding but I can let it go too,” she said.
Regarding how long Dowdney wants to keep pursuing art, she said “always. There’s no end to creativity. I just had my second cataract surgery and suddenly colors are exploding.”
