Weekly beauty: Sandra Bowden

I can't remember how I stumbled upon Sandra Bowden's art but I know I like it.

Her gallery is organized into categories: text series, archaeology series, collage series, crucifixion series, art history, artist's books, and geological forms.

Samples from the text series demonstrate Bowden's trademark: the inclusion of Hebrew text in the piece. It's compact and not necessarily intended to be read, but becomes part of the art.


Heavens Declare (Psalm 19)




Aaron's Breastplate (a reference to Exodus 28:29, the inscription of the names of the 12 tribes of Israel on Aaron's priestly vestments; the piece also includes Jacob's blessing of his 12 sons, from Genesis 49)




Law and Gospel (a depiction of the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, with an additional horizontal cut to form a cross)




From the crucifixion series, a piece called He Was Wounded for our Transgressions (a San Damiano cross surrounded by words from Isaiah 43)




And from the geological forms series, this is Burst into Song, O Mountains (from Isaiah 49)




There's something quite compelling about such simple forms carrying so many layers of meaning.