Timeline

Judy Bowman is a mixed-media collage artist who was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Her art practice centers on exalting America’s Black culture. Bowman’s use of vibrant hues, textured paper and acrylic paint illuminates’ narratives that move beyond institutional racism and disparaged perspectives of the Black experience–a view in which America too often limits the full picture. Considering herself a visual griot, she sees her job to tell stories that are reflective of her coming-of-age in Detroit’s Eastside and Black Bottom neighborhoods. Scenes in her vibrant collages depict love, community and a type of fellowship that resides in jazzy nights, the sway of young Black women and the swag of young Black men, church on Sundays followed by family dinner, family outings and cultural dignity and richness.

Bowman’s work appears in private and public collections–nationally and internationally–including Institutional Collections of the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, Sarasota, Florida; The Free Press building, Detroit, Michigan; R.W. Norton Art Gallery/ Museum, Shreveport, Louisiana; Georgetown University Library, Booth Family For Special Collections, Washington DC, US Department of State, Art Bank Program, Washington, DC; and the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan.

After Bowman retired as principal of Detroit Academy of Arts and Science in 2008, she rebooted her career as an artist. She lives in Romulus, MI and works throughout Metro Detroit.