Jen McGowan
Jen McGowan has been trying to figure out what it means to be an artist since art school. She carries a Diploma of Fine Art from Langara College, a Bachelor of Fine Art with distinction from Concordia University and a post-grad certificate in Print Media from Capilano University. She has a Secondary Art BEd from UBC and has been teaching Animation, Film and Art in a Vancouver Secondary school for 10 years. She has also been trying to figure out what it means to be a mother since her daughter was born in 2011, and then her son in 2015. Motherhood has shifted both the focus of her art-making and the time she’s been able to devote to it. Like with many parents, the identity crisis that comes with the role has been so profound it has fundamentally changed her self-concept and worldview.
Currently, she uses drawing, painting, photography, collage and whatever materials she has on hand to question her own identity through a feminist lens on motherhood. Her work has been included in shows throughout Canada and the US. Her digital collage, ‘Cookies’ was recently featured in an online exhibition called, ‘You are not wonderful just because you are a mother’ curated by Qiana Mestrich and hosted by the Artist/Mother podcast. In July 2020 she co-hosted ‘(Re)Igniting Your Creative Practice’, a Kleio Collective workshop as part of their Feather Dusting/Future Lusting online exhibition with Abigail Hammond and Jody Boyer. Her poem, ‘Milkbag of love’ was featured in Brave magazine issue 10.
