Dana Cowie: family tree

Dana Cowie
 
Having to spend more time at home during the lockdowns of this past year, Dana Cowie has juggled homeschooling two young children and finding time to paint. Although hectic at times, Cowie found herself with the opportunity to pursue a great deal of work on archiving her family tree, and gathering a deeper understanding of her connection to the land where her ancestors had resided. This research would eventually become intertwined with her art, exploring Cowie’s interest in family lines, her own origins, and the history of the UK. From her home Cowie observed images digitally of areas of England, Scotland, and Ireland that her family had come from. Cowie’s research culminated in a series of paintings of the British countryside and of Coll and Tiree Islands of Scotland. Throughout her process, Cowie employs trust, patience, and faith in God, which is always a strong element within her work. She hopes to one day visit these places of the UK in person, exploring the castles in which her ancestors had lived.

“The piece I call Forgotten Field is of an area in Essex where one line of my family has deep roots and were mostly paupers and servants - many were in jail for stealing food! I have always felt connected to England and Scotland but now I have places, names and stories.”
- Dana Cowie

Dana Cowie is an painter and art educator currently based in Owen Sound, Ontario. She studied visual arts at Central Technical School in Toronto. Cowie employs an impasto technique inspired by cubism to her oil paintings of farm landscapes to achieve a patchwork quilting effect. The work that she creates has a sculptural feel, and the imagery that results is both abstract and representational. ​​

Written by Kaitlyn Sun-Hwang