artist portfolio
BIOGRAPHY
Summer Lowe was raised in Southern California and earned an M.F.A in Painting from UCLA, where she studied under a faculty of famous artists.
She was a K-12 Art teacher with Los Angeles Municipal school district. After moving to Atlanta, she taught courses in art and design at The Art Institute of Atlanta for over twenty years.
An important emphasis in her life as an artist and teacher was her desire to help the disadvantaged sector of our society. Early in her career, she worked at a non-profit art school in the middle of Skid Row in Los Angeles. There, she taught art classes to homeless children as well as gave them a safe place to be and a warm meal. She continued to teach for several years, in areas of Los Angeles where children lived in distressed, impoverished communities.
In Atlanta, she continued to work for nonprofit art communities which serve diversity and inclusion. As an agent for change and promoter of equal opportunity, she is always looking for a way to serve her community by promoting, teaching and exhibiting artists who are under-represented in our culture.
She has also taught painting courses at community art centers and continues to teach painting classes on a part time basis.
Currently Summer is pursuing a career as a professional artist, exhibiting her work in galleries in the Atlanta area. She has also served as a board member on non-profit art organizations.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Summer's paintings are representations of portraits, flowers, figures, landscapes and trees. She recognizes the power of nature and its unlimited potential for inspiration. Her inspiration comes from sketching models and taking photographs.
Initially, the theme of this artwork was inspired from doing portraits. Exclusively exhibiting abstracts for many years, she felt a need to combine her realistic style with a more abstract one. After a couple of years of practice, she found a way to merge the two styles of realism with abstraction to create something unique.
With this merging of traditional and contemporary styles, she creates a realistic image integrated with an abstract form. Her fascination comes from seeing the relationships in all living things. The camouflage effect is made by layering paint in a push/pull technique of color intensity and value. The drawing technique is referred to as "Lost and Found" contour drawing in which the outline of forms becomes lost in the abstraction of colors. She uses acrylics in a watercolor base on a textured substrate and paints layers of oil paint on top to create a rich depth of color and texture.
The energetic brushstrokes and color choices make the paintings feel emotional rather than purely representational. These artworks feel like an inner landscape as much as a depiction of a person or living thing.
The theme of women in her art is a celebration of feminine strength and beauty. She suggests sensuality without being overt about it, through the filter of color, pose, age and attitude. The women she paints give voice to non-traditional themes in the history of art. She chooses colors and compositions for their emotional impact on the viewer. Her intention is to convey the beauty she sees in both human and natural forms.