Jennifer Sowders

“Landscapes” Artist’s Series Statement:I work impressionistically using acrylic paint with a palette knife and a silicone dotter for expressive mark-making. I also utilize a thinner viscosity of acrylic paint for whipping branches (via a string) onto the surface, which helps sink paint into the impasto that accrues in layering.I have spent most of my life in a rural setting, surrounded by woods, streams and fields on a dead-end road. Being surrounded by nature has definitely given me a heightened sense of paying attention to my surroundings... which only grew in the years I spent creating my landscapes via plein air painting. Being able to have the actual impression of what kind of plant or tree is represented is also very important to me. Not only does that make me feel a little like a visual historian of sorts but though a person might not know the name of a plant... their eyes process those shapes, colors etc. and that impression draws them into the scene. I often hear people talking about feeling as though they could walk right into the painting... and that drawing/immersive-feeling is just what I'm going for.

Growing up on a ‘dead end’ road in the country; Northwest Ohio-native artist, Jennifer Sowders, grew up spending a lot of time studying nature and it’s indelible thread is noted within her painted landscape and figurative series bodies of work.A 1994 BFA graduate from the Columbus College of Art and Design, she has signature membership in: Ohio Watercolor Society, Kentucky Watercolor Society and Watercolor USA Honor Society. She holds associate membership in: Allied Artists, American Impressionist and National Oil & Acrylic Painters' Societies.New to acrylic landscapes as of 2021, she debuted with an honorable mention in AcrylicWorks 9 : The Best of Acrylic and has since been a finalist in issues 10, 11 & 12. She is also an avid watercolorist, having 2 pieces in the Ohio Arts Council collection.Her most recent accomplishments have been in receiving the Ohio Watercolor Society's Silver Medal, 2nd place in the landscape division of the Artists Magazine’s 40th Annual, and Grand Prize in International Artist magazine's challenge #141 and #149 Landscapes ('24/'25, Two years in a row!).She is currently represented by the Toledo Museum of Art’s Collector Corner and is actively welcoming further representation and group show opportunities as well.Jennifer opens up her Fostoria, Ohio studio and gallery space: MONgallery and Art Studio, every MONday to visitors. She coined “MON” to represent “Middle Of Nowhere” because of her rural location where she lives with husband, Gary and has 3 sons.​