Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Dumas Texas, in the panhandle. It’s where my mother and father were both from. I moved from there right out of high school and never went back. I lived in Duncan, Oklahoma then Graham, Texas which I made home. I lived in Phoenix for a short time, so that’s where my connection to Arizona comes from. I’ve been going back there lately.
What brought you to Wichita Falls?
I first came to Wichita Falls years ago with Downtown Development. They were trying to start a program here in the early 90’s around the time I met Smith Walker, and he told me they needed some help. I was in Graham at the time, so I came here to help them raise some money to get the program started. I was here for a few years and then retired in ‘06. This was kind of my last preservation job. I moved back to Graham in that year with my mom and opened up a shop. I wanted to promote local artists, so that’s how the whole art thing started. After my mom passed, I moved back here to live as a gypsy artist for a year just to see what I could do and almost starved to death. So I went to work for a preservationist, Will Tucker. It’s been like a really good marriage for us because he is such a great supporter of the arts and downtown. I still get to do preservation work through him. He buys and restores buildings downtown, and I get to be involved with that which really helps with my art, since it’s my passion. There are so many artists here in this community, and that is one other reason I wanted to be here in Wichita Falls. I think it’s an untapped market that is just now coming to realization. I think we can build on that, especially downtown. I would love to see us have more galleries around here.
When did you begin to pursue art?
I was selling art for a lady out of my shop in Graham, Beth Prichard, and she sparked my interest in art classes. So I took an art class and the teacher said we were going to do still lives, but I said, “Nope I am not that boring!”. Instead, I painted two labs on an oriental rug and that was my first painting. Of course, they kind of looked like pigs, but that was the most fun I had ever had. I’ve never put a paint brush down since.
What sparked your passion for painting?
I took classes for about 2 years and learned as much as I could learn. I’ll take a short individual class here and there, but two years’ worth of classes was pretty much it. And I’ve developed this style which works for me. My art is all open and about me or people I meet. A lot of emotion goes into a painting or I just don’t paint it. It’s all about the feel or emotion. And it’s so exciting when someone else comes in here and gets it! Then you know what you are feeling is really getting out. The interesting thing about it is, I paint for me. Everything I paint comes from deep inside, or some life experience. Sometimes I dream it and just have to paint as soon as I get up. So I often say art is my therapy. I don’t worry about the art selling when I do it. I get to see where my art goes and it’s like that’s just where it belongs! Seeing it bring joy or blessings to someone else is an awesome bonus.
Where did Lily come from?
I began doing this abstract thing with lily ponds. I have this thing about lilies. My great grandmother’s name was Lily and she was this little fireball of a woman. So with all of that, I developed this character named ‘Lily’; a little redheaded gal that travels around the world. There have been times when I get stuck and I couldn’t get out on canvas what I needed to for what I felt and one of my mentors told me “that’s fine, just paint whatever”. Once I learned that you can’t get stooped, I always come back to Lily. She’s kind of my main stay. She started out as a small character. For example, I would paint a fountain scene in a street in Italy and have this little woman just reading a book and that was Lily. She eventually developed into a big character and now she’s bigger than life. She is always developing. If you ever find one of my paintings with people in it you will find Lily; she’s in there somewhere. I have really been able to express myself with my art through this character. Lily is an extension of me. Once I developed a character and telling a story with the art, clients began to just come to me. They saw the expressions and message I was trying to provide through my art.
What inspires you daily?
My art is something I can leave my boys when I’m not here anymore and they’ll have something to be proud of. That was really what started it all and that’s what keeps me going; knowing that’s what I do it for. My sons are 31 and 33. They support my art by buying it. They won’t let me give them any. They know this is my business and they want to see me succeed. So they both have several pieces of my art.
What is “Artful Life”?
That is something that just came to me. I thought in everything I do, even in preservation work, there is a lot of art involved. And that is just a happy thing for me. My entire life is the Artful Life; everything I do, everything I say, everywhere I go, and the people that I meet. That saying just helps me express it all. It’s basically just an all-encompassing three word phrase that describes me and my entire life.
Where can we find your work?
I do shows in Graham, Dallas, and the surrounding areas. In February I am doing the Kemp at the Forum and in April I return to Dallas for Café Izmir, which is kind of the show that got me started a year and a half ago. That show threw me out into the universe into a bigger art world. My art blossomed after that. I do Art and Soul and anything in Wichita Falls that I can support. I donate a lot of paintings to people for events and I’m glad to do that. Of course, one of the main things I do now is the Maplewood. Every month for the last year and half now, we change artists out there. I volunteer to oversee that. Also, I have been doing paint parties there twice a month. That is so much fun. I’ve always said that I am not a teacher, but I decided to have wine paint parties. I figured I could be a wine art teacher. It is so fun for me because even though I am not a teacher, it’s amazing to have 20 people who have never painted, come in and let me coach or lead, and then for them to put their emotions on canvas through what you have presented for them to paint. It’s all about giving someone permission to paint what they feel. It is so rewarding and even makes me a better painter and artist because I am learning from them by seeing things that I normally wouldn’t see. It’s really challenging me to really go the distance in a creative way.
This is like the perfect life. I don’t know how it could get any better. I guess this is my home now. I traveled a lot for the first time last year and it was great seeing new places and meeting new people, but through that I realized that being right here is really where my art comes from.
-Kaeli Fowler
