About

Rowena in the installation Seeking the Lost Gardens of 112 Sharp St, 2023

Biography

Rowena Evans is an artist, illustrator and writer in Cooma, on Ngarigo Country in southern NSW. She recently completed studying a Master of Contemporary Practices in Art and Design degree at the Australian National University.

After working as a writer and artist for some years, in 2019 Rowena felt she had painted herself into an artistic corner. What had been a peripheral activity - making subtle art interventions in the bush - became increasingly important and she is currently changing direction to focus more purposefully on environmental art. Her practice ranges from printmaking to environmentally based installations using found and natural objects. Rowena's artwork is based on specific sites and familiar places, responding to weather, stones, plants, creatures and stories, looking beneath the surface into layers and possibilities. She hopes to bring surprise and delight to viewers.

Rowena's qualifications include a MCPAD from ANU and received four ACT EASS Awards on completing the degree. She has a BA in Visual Arts from the City Art Institute, Sydney (now part of UNSW).  She was awarded an Australian Society of Authors illustration mentorship in 2007 for her project The Incredible Shrinking Elephant, and has published three fantasy/ adventure novels for young readers with IFWG Publishing. She has exhibited prints, paintings, drawings and installations in the Snowy Mountains region, Canberra and Germany. Her commissioned works include fiction and nonfiction illustrations for publication, and paintings in private collections in Australia and the USA. She enjoys reading, weeding, travelling and making music (recorders, horn, singing).

With the project Conversations with Zinc, 2023