I have had the privilege of being an artist all my life. I am one of the lucky people who found his life’s work and was able to make it a livelihood. I have been in music and theater since the age of 8. I would say music is still the art that most deeply affects me. In my late twenties, while living in Berkeley CA, I discovered modern dance. I redirected my life so I could pursue this new addiction because it combined everything that was important to me at the time: music, theater, people, and the athleticism of my youth. I became a professional dancer and then a choreographer and eventually the artistic director of a company in Boise Idaho.
In my forties, I discovered painting. I mentioned the theater and dance because it has been an influence on my painting. But the first impulse to paint came from my surroundings here in Idaho. I came here in ’79, initially for a dance residency, and moved here permanently in ’80. My first impression of the area was the landscape. Often in the evening I would become mesmerized by the undulating shapes of the bare hills and the play of light across their surfaces. After a while, I realized that this landscape was strongly holding me to this place.
I craved having a way to interact with this Idaho landscape. I realized that I had an emotional, very personal response. Idaho has big mountains, the kind that draws tourists and gets on postcards, but the foothills interested me far more. So, I began to draw them, quite timidly, very much in the closet, and I found this activity to be wonderfully maddening and satisfying. I showed my monochromes to a painter friend and he matter-of-factly said I had tonal values pretty good, why not try color.
Why not?
As when I started to dance, I soon became obsessed about painting and I organized my life so that I was painting every minute that I wasn’t doing what I was suppose to be doing. Five years later I had my first solo show at a gallery in Boise. Eventually I moved to Boise to co-direct the Idaho Dance Theatre and pursue painting professionally.
As I painted, I realized I saw the land the way I see a stage. In dance, we light the stage from the sides with strongly colored light. This accentuates the forms of the dancers. I also learned in the theater that something could be any color we want. The “real” color of anything is irrelevant because color depends on the nature of the light shining on it. People in particular can be literally any color onstage. Costumes and skin magically morph into new colors, if we want. (To see my choreography click this link: www.carlrowedance.com
I know now why the land here so attracts me. It is human land; sensual, evocative, fragile, made up of shapes and contours that evoke the human form. At least, that is what I see. These forms change colors, often quite dramatically, as the light changes temperature during the course of the day and the changes in season. These are the elements that I emphasize in my work.
Landscape, any landscape, has no inherent meaning or beauty. A field of wildflowers is no more beautiful than a flat, dry lakebed of dirt and rock. We assign the meaning and beauty. My perspective is that we humans must find meaning and beauty in the surroundings of our existence in order to value and preserve it. My paintings are my attempt to heighten our sensitivity by asking you to look, look at this. Really look at it.
I have had a full and wonderful career as an artist. I am fortunate to have been involved in two entirely separate art worlds; performing and visual. The beauty of the human body in motion occupied me for over 40 years. It is a social art form working closely with other people in a charged environment of mutually personal desires for artistic expression. Choreographing uses every part of me as a human: intellectual, physical, musical, artistic, theatrical, and emotional.
Painting is solitary and very personal. What draws me to it is that it provides a way for me to interact with my planet. My first impulse to paint is still my present impulse. The land that surrounds me has a visceral effect on me and I feel compelled to give form to that response. Being a professional painter gives me the additional experience of sharing that response with others. There are few greater privileges than having someone love a painting and purchase it to make it part of their home and life.
Some parts of the U.S. are famous for their attraction to artists and art lovers; such as Santa Fe and Carmel. My feeling is that this land I inhabit is every bit as sensual, mysterious, and full of artistic material as those, and that it should be as famous as these better known regions. I'm doing my part to make it so.
Resume
Education 1973-76 University of California at Santa Cruz, Dance 1971 Goodman School of Drama, Chicago Art Institute, Acting 1964-68 Luther College, Decorah IA, BA English Painting - Exhibitions 2019 Zions Bank Invitational Art Show – Boise ID Idaho Conservation League: Artist In Residence – Ten Statewide Exhibitions Riverside Hotel, Solo Show – Boise ID 2018 Celebration of Fine Arts, 3 month residency – Scottsdale AZ Kneeland Gallery, 2 person show – Ketchum ID Zions Bank Invitational Art Show – Boise ID Smith and Coelho Invitational – Eagle ID Inn At 500, Solo Show – Boise ID 2017 Zion’s Bank Invitational Art Show – Boise ID Smith and Coelho Invitational – Eagle ID 2016 Wallowa Valley Festival of the Arts – Regional Landscape Award Smith and Coelho Invitational – Eagle ID Zion’s Bank Invitational Art Show – Boise ID Kneeland Gallery, 2 person show – Ketchum ID 2015 Idaho Falls Arts Council National Juried Exhibition – Idaho Falls, ID Albertson’s Library, Boise State University – 50th Anniversary Invitational Zion’s Bank Invitational Art Show – Boise ID 2014 Solo Exhibition – Gallery Five18 Cover ofSun Valley Magazine 40th Anniversary Issue Zion’s Bank Invitational Art Show 2013 Kneeland Gallery – 4 Person Show 2012 Wallowa Valley Festival of the Arts – First Place Award Peterson Gallery – Baker City OR – Solo Show 2011 Idaho Commission on the Arts Fellowship Exhibition - Idaho State Capitol Building 2010 Wallowa Valley Festival of the Arts – Honorable Mention Award Idaho Triennial – Boise Art Museum “More Than A Pretty Face” – Boise Art Museum Kneeland Gallery – Ketchum ID – 4 Person Show 2009 Opening of the Rowe/Lisk Gallery – Boise – Continuous “More Than A Pretty Face” – Boise Art Museum 2008 Kneeland Gallery – Ketchum ID – 3 Person Show Schomburg Gallery – Santa Monica CA- 2 Person Show 2007 Attic Gallery – Portland OR – 2 Person Show Artizen Gallery – McCall ID – Solo Show Kneeland Gallery – Ketchum ID – 3 Person Show J Crist Gallery – Boise ID- Group Show 2006 J Crist Gallery – Boise ID – 3 Person Show Attic Gallery – Portland OR- 2 Person Show 2005 Browns Gallery – Boise ID – Solo Show J Crist Gallery – Boise ID – Grand Opening Exhibition Kneeland Gallery – Sun Valley ID – 3 Person Show Idaho Paints Idaho – Eagle Rock Museum – Idaho Falls ID 2004 Idaho State University – Pocatello ID – Solo Exhibition Featured artist in Sun Valley Magazine 30th Anniversary Issue Brown Gallery – Boise ID – Solo Show 2003 Attic Gallery - Portland OR - 2 Person Show Kneeland Gallery - Sun Valley ID - 3 Person Show Browns Gallery - Boise ID - Solo Show Schomburg Gallery - Santa Monica CA - 2 Person Show 2002 Attic Gallery - Portland OR - 2 Person Show Browns Gallery - Boise ID - Solo Show Xanadu Gallery - Scottsdale AZ - Solo Show Kneeland Gallery - Sun Valley ID - 3 Person Show 2001 First Avenue Gallery - Portland OR - Solo Show Browns Gallery - Boise ID - Solo Show Kneeland Gallery - Sun Valley ID - Two Person Show Desert Cabarellos Museum - Wickenburg AZ - "Rising Stars" Boise State University - Boise ID - Group Show 2000 Boise State University - Boise ID - Solo Show Kneeland Gallery - Sun Valley ID - 2 person show Browns Gallery, Boise ID - Solo show 1999 Kneeland Gallery, Sun Valley ID - group show Jalisco, Mexico - Idaho Sister State Cultural Exchange Browns Gallery, Boise ID - Solo show 1998 Kneeland Gallery, Sun Valley ID - 2 person show Art Calendar Magazine"Crabbie Awards" Grand Prize Winner Washington Arts Commission - purchase of two paintings 1997 Kneeland Gallery, Sun Valley ID - 2 person show "Art Equinox", Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls MT - a regional survey of contemporary art "Art West Open", Jackson WY “Thunder And Lightning”, Art Calendar Magazine- international show 1997 Georgetown International Fine Arts Competition Lewis-Clark Open Juried Art Exhibition, Lewiston ID 6th National Art Exhibition, Fort Collins CO Sutton West Gallery, Missoula MT - 3 person show Mockingbird Gallery, Bend OR - group show Selected for inclusion in New American Paintings, Fall '97 1996 National Juried Competition, Corsicana TX Kneeland Gallery, Sun Valley ID - group show Boise Chronicle, City purchased 3 paintings Lewis-Clark Pacific Regional Exhibition, Lewiston ID Lewis-Clark "Encore" Exhibition, Lewiston, ID Browns Gallery, Boise ID - Solo show 1995 Idaho Triennial,Boise Art Museum Galos Gallery, Boise ID - Solo shows Jan. and Dec. Kneeland Gallery, Sun Valley ID - group show Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, "Art Equinox", Great Falls MT (12 state regional exhibit) 19th Biennial National Juried Art Exhibition, Valley City ND Rosenthal Gallery of Art, Albertson College, Caldwell ID Lewis-Clark Pacific Regional Exhibition, Lewiston ID 1994 Cheyenne Artists' Guild, National Competition, Best of Show 1993 Boise State University, "Northwest Contemporary Artists" Nampa Art Guild, "Centennial 8", Merit Award 1992 Lewis-Clark Invitational Art Show, Lewiston ID 1991 Boise State University Gallery, "Images of Boise", Boise ID 1990 Albertson College, "Idaho Landscape", Caldwell ID Idaho Falls Art Guild, "Snake River Competitive", Merit Award Selected Collections:Futura Corporation, Governor and Mrs. Phil Batt, Healthwise Corporation, City of Boise, Mountain State Tumor Institute, St Alphonsus Hospital, Zion’s Bank, St Luke’s Hospital, Merrill Lynch, Blue Cross of Idaho, Click Building Bank, Givens and Pursley LLP, and Banner Bank. Paintings held in private collections throughout the United States Performing Arts: Had a second professional career in dance from 1974 until 2014. Fellowships/Grants/Awards
2015 Mayor’s Award, Individual Excellence in the Arts – Boise, ID 2012 Artist Fellowship in Dance – ID Comm on the Arts 2009 Culture and Conservation Award, Land Trust of the Treasure Valley 2002 Governor's Award - Excellence In The Arts, Lifetime award 2000 Artist Fellowship in Dance - ID Comm. on he Arts 1999 Artist Fellowship, Honorable Mention, in Painting - Idaho Commission on the Arts 1995 Worksite Award, Idaho Commission on the Arts;$5,000 to support choreography for a year 1993 Sudden Opportunity - Idaho Commission on the Arts; Support for gallery show 1990 New Forms; Regional Initiative - National Endowment for the Arts Funding for Next Of Kin, a full-length play I wrote, choreographed and directed, produced in Boise 1990 Sudden Opportunity, Idaho Commission on the Arts; Support for Next Of Kin 1987 Artist Fellowship in Dance - ID Comm. on the Arts Community Arts Grant - ID Comm. on the Arts; Support for "Visions", a collaboration