In a small town in the eastern cape of South Africa, our house was always filled with the movement and colour of four children and their friends, several beloved dogs and cats, green plants everywhere, inside and out, and the sunshine and shade of that time and place.  My best friend called it Anne's Bower, a play on my name. 

As a child, my mother and grandmother encouraged my love of all things artistic and creative.  I have been a teacher of art and language for 35 years.  Growing older, I have a sense of the frailty of life and I am motivated to devote more time to my own art, to writing and illustrating, to living in the moment, looking back for inspiration on the richness of my past and waiting with skeptical anticipation for what the future will bring.

I am fascinated by the natural world, the human body, the nature of women, the gigantic spectrum of human experience, from degradation and despair to kindness and wisdom.  Coming from a warm country, I love marigold-orange and rich crimson,  the turquoise and azures of the wide oceans and skies of the land of my heart.  There is a pattern throughout my work of luxurious deep colors and a sense of magical realism.

I believe that art is intricately entwined in our social and cultural backgrounds as well as our collective human experience and I strive to find such connections in my work.  When people view my work, I want them to be enchanted.

Anne Radford Bouwer

M.F.A.; M.Ed.