Introduction

Robert Hower

Each of us has unique experiences that affect how we relate to the physical and psychological world.  I was raised in a house on the east edge of Omaha, Nebraska not far from the Missouri River that was an intimate space. My mother was born in the home, and my grandfather designed and built the structure.  The awareness and memory of that space is keen and clear. The essence of the light and space captured in that environment was very powerful and had a unique presence.  I think that on a very basic level we all have had similar formative conditions and experiences. My creative work and process continues to seek solutions that are visually and conceptually introspective, personal in nature and that are reflective of the human experience. The use of space and light as starting points for establishing studio dialogue concepts is important to my work.

Thoughts on the Light, Passageway, Series
(title is still under final refinement for the series)
Robert Hower
2020

I have always wanted very much to keep a lifelong relationship with my past. Of course, my family, extended family, friends, and familiar spaces are the primary parts of that relationship.  But, there are certain things that continue to jog my memory about Nebraska. The land, sky, the feel and smell of the summer nights, and the damp cold winter days are worth chasing time and again. It is a place I remember where imagining and dreaming were possible.

Land and sky will always inform my work. The stillness, and yet the visual liveliness of the worked landscape has intrigued me.  The dynamics of the sky can be so calm but then at times forceful and powerful. Even when it demands that you take cover…it confronts us with the most respectful experience.

In early 2004, I participated in the Konza Prairie Artist program that focused on the tallgrass prairie reserve. This virgin prairie discovery was a continuation of my interest in the land that closely connected with Nebraska. This comment about my work embraces much of what I have attempted to discover. *Robert Hower’s work addresses what is essential and fundamental in our experiences of space, time, and our physical and psychological environments. Through the interplay of form and light, interpreted through the lens of our associations, Hower’s work reveals the poetry of place.

My work does not try to imitate nature, but it attempts to explore line, shape, color, organization of space, and time by the layering of elements that are informed by my memory and visual interpretation of past experiences. Vocabulary elements are shapes that are possibly human or machine created that are then placed against others that have a greater connection to nature.

This recent set of silkscreen/monoprints has a direct and lasting connection to Nebraska.  The land has always provided nourishing experiences to consider. In the past, the whiteness of winter emphasized elements of the landscape’s form, and then yet at times creating a perfect disguise. For me, walking the fields in late winter at dawn, discovering what the winds, moisture and rains have unearthed, is more meditative than watching the sunset from the Great Wall.

Within these prints, the distinct lines, clarity of direction, sureness of intent and the numerous layering of elements is how I feel the worked earth over time.  The changes encouraged by the rains, wind, snow, foot steps, and the light are all recorded on the surface of the land.

HANCOCK, MI – “Robert Hower: Personal Space-Universal Space” will be featured at the Finlandia University Gallery, located in the Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock, September 12 to October 16, 2013. (Carrie Flaspohler – Gallery Director)

Excerpts from an article written about the exhibition
How do our youthful perceptions and interactions with the world shape us?  How do we carry forward our interactions with culture, space, form, and light?

*Robert Hower’s work addresses what is essential and fundamental in our experiences of space, time, and our physical and psychological environments. Through the interplay of form and light, interpreted through the lens of our associations, Hower’s work reveals the poetry of place.

“Growing up, I think that each one of us has unique experiences that affect how we relate to the physical and psychological world. I grew up in a house that was very small; my mother was born in the home; and my grandfather built the home. And so, my awareness of that space is keen and clear,” says Hower.  “The essence of the light and space captured in that environment was very powerful and unique. I think that on a very basic level we all have similar formative conditions and experiences.”

Hower uses these formative childhood experiences with his environment to inform his artistic vocabulary.  His work incorporates form, shape, light, memory, sensory perception, architecture, science, and language, and is informed by culture and human perception.

“As an individual living today, displaced from the neighborhood I grew up in 40 years ago, I can still remember the four-block area where I grew up; I can still see the fences, the lighting that revealed all that existed, and the people who lived in the homes on the streets that created the neighborhood,” notes Hower.  “As we grow, we tend to want to experience the world, how light may be unique or similar, how people may be different or the same, how structures and dwellings compare.”

Stephen Lapthisophon, an artist and educator working in the field of conceptual art, critical theory, and disability studies, has written about Hower’s use of form in his work: “The function of form in our moment needs to be re-established as a value for our decision making process. We learn through form and are better able to grasp the meaning of our moment. This is the exchange we make between ourselves and others in an attempt to find commonality and purpose. Form allows us to have a common language of experience and a place where we can share it. We delight in the mysteries of perception and its elusive power of revelation.”