Artworks Gallery
May 18-June 13
Reception: May 20

Landscape has an extraordinary place the heart of Montanans. We value Montana for her raw beauty, the splendor of her many moods, and multiplicity of her landscapes. We feel wonder and reverence in Nature–it teaches us, makes us saner, and more confident. We now, however, also feel a disturbed uneasiness when we walk through the browning forests or when we note the change in weather patterns. More and more artists are turning back to the landscape to capture what we are loosing and to lessen their feelings of disconnect and discomfort in a rapidly changing world. Artist Mike Glier says, “Landscape has become an urgent subject.” When I am out painting, I take in the colors, the compositions, the textures and I feel no alienation, no separation.

“…I go to Nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in tune once more.” [John Burroughs] My hope is that through sharing the intimacy of my experience, we all become more motivated to protect the land we love.

DD Dowden was born in Arkansas and has been expatriated from the South for 35 years. Her BFA in art led to a couple of tries at graduate and architecture school, before abandoning higher education to work in the woods of Southeast Alaska. A resident of Montana for nearly 30 years, her work is compelled by Montana’s landscape and the immediacy of the medium of watercolor.

One-woman shows at the Hockaday Museum, Kalispell; Holter Museum of Art, Helena (x2); The University of Arkansas Museum Gallery. Various collections and galleries, auctions, and invitationals.