On View in the O’Bleness Gallery located in The Dairy Barn Arts Center
Check out this video of the exhibit!
Artist Statement:
I’m an interactive artist with a mission to create situations that foster and reward curiosity. I prioritize Universal Design in my work, hoping all people—regardless of age, height, background, or accessibility situation—can engage meaningfully. I see art as existing within situations rather than the physical artwork itself, coming alive through curious exploration. It’s a little of this curiosity I hope people will take away with them.
I aim to create work with communities rather than for them, seeing people as integral to the medium itself, both as catalysts to the artwork and collaborators in development. This goal is achieved through a robust prototyping process.
Prototyping involves publicly testing work at multiple stages of development. This results in more responsive and universally engaging experiences. It allows the artist to challenge assumptions of how people might engage. With luck, it becomes an exercise in discovering and addressing personal biases.
Great interactive art integrates community interaction not only into the final work but throughout the entire process. This enriches the artwork with input from a wider diversity of people. All of this testing and exploration adds up to a joyful form of collaboration.
Prototyping, on its surface, is a process to create better and more inclusive artwork. More deeply, it’s a process to create a better and more inclusive artist.
Artist Bio:
Owen Lowery has been a Tough Artist at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, the Community Artist-in-Residence at the Currier Museum of Art, a Maker-in-Residence at the Scott Family Amazeum, the Restoring Hope Restoring Trust Artist-in-Residence at Wabash College, the Universal Access Artist-in-Residence at Artspace NC, and just finished installing a site-specific projection installation for the Kutztown University Installation Residency. He’s a Heinz Endowment Awardee, a recipient of the Burning Man Global Arts Grant, and was awarded the Consumer Involvement Award by the Cuyahoga County Mental Health Board of Cleveland, OH.
Lowery’s work has been featured at Currents New Media Fest in Santa Fe, True/False Film Fest in Columbia, MO, and IngenuityFest Cleveland, though is most often found in less traditional art spaces such as libraries, community centers, hospitals, halfway houses, psychiatric care facilities, maker spaces, education spaces, and community-oriented programming.
December 21 – March 16
Opening Reception
December 21, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Meet the artist
Family-friendly interactive activities for all ages!
Access Projects
Interactive art exploring modes of accessible communication (braille, sign language, etc.) and universal design as the artwork medium.
Artworks include:
Speech-to-Text-to-Sign-to-Song-to-Art-to-Touch
Balloon Song
Magnetic Braille
Braille Poetics