Later in life, Mary Bowler found calling as an artist
By BETSY BOLGER-PAULET
Published June 8, 2004
PALM HARBOR - Mary A. Bowler of Palm Harbor, an abstract expressionist best known as one of the original 14 local artists who formed the Trailside Artists Colony in Dunedin, died Wednesday (June 2, 2004) at Peninsula Care and Rehabilitation Center, Tarpon Springs, after a two-year battle with lung cancer. She was 73.
The artist colony, which recently became the Imago Art Group, was created in the mid 1990s, when Mrs. Bowler and other local artists started renting space for $225 a month at a former furniture store on the southwest corner of Douglas and Lyndhurst streets in Dunedin.
The group included a sculptor, a photographer, a stained-glass artist and a glass blower along with Mrs. Bowler and other painters, all demonstrating eclectic styles, diverse philosophies and unusual approaches in the shared space they referred to as "the zoo." The space was divided with wood beams and wire fencing into small studios.
"We call ourselves artists in cages," Mrs. Bowler said in 2002, when she was serving as the artist colony's public relations director.
Mrs. Bowler's artistic talent was developed later in life. She was born and grew up in Montgomery, Ala. Her mother was the late Margaret Virginia Jackman, a native of Ozona, and her father was Robert Mahlon Gray of Montgomery.
In 1950, she married the late Brian "Buz" Bowler, and while raising their four children, she began to experiment in sculpture, pottery, drawings and painting. It wasn't until after she came to Florida in the 1980s from Norfolk, Va., that her paintings became noteworthy and award-winning.
The artist, who painted with acrylics, once defined her particular style succinctly: "I never wanted to paint a rose that looked like a rose but one that smelled like a rose."
Along with her leading role in the Dunedin artist colony, she was a board member of PAVA (Pinellas Association of Visual Artists), the Artist Way Group and the Dunedin Fine Art Center. Many of her paintings are on display at J. Harrison Smith Fine Art Gallery and Studios in Clearwater.
Survivors include three sons, Timothy J., Palm Harbor, Michael P., Hayes, Va., and Brian W. Jr., Norfolk; a daughter, Katherine A. Arnaud, Chesapeake, Va.; a sister, Patricia A. Thibault; a brother, Michael E. Jackman; five grandchildren, Sara Rhoten, Brian W. Bowler III, Marllory Arnaud, Alexandra Arnaud and Hunter Bowler; and two nephews, Robert Thibault and Michael C. Jackman.
Visitation will be from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Dunedin Fine Art Center, 1143 Michigan Blvd. Charitable donations may be made in her name to the education programs at the Dunedin Fine Art Center. The Neptune Society, Palm Harbor, is in charge of arrangements.
