The Ohio Artist Registry (OAR) is an exciting opportunity for artists to share their work, connect with the creative community, and establish an online presence—all on a free, virtual platform! The OAR encourages artists working in all art forms, throughout Ohio and beyond, to create a profile, which allows them to better promote themselves and their work. Being listed in the OAR provides artists with new opportunities to share their work with clients, galleries, patrons, and audiences. A listing in the OAR does not confer an endorsement, approval, or verification by the Ohio Arts Council.
For more information, contact Kathy Signorino, artist programs director, at kathy.signorino@oac.ohio.gov or 614-728-6140.
Jennifer Sowders
Sowders MONgallery and Art StudioFostoria OH 44830 United States Home Phone: 567-245-1179 Website: The Art of Jennifer Sowders
Bio
Growing up on a ‘dead end’ road in the country; Northwest Ohio-native artist, Jennifer Sowders, grew up spending a lot of time studying nature and it’s indelible thread is noted within her painted landscape and figurative series bodies of work.
A 1994 BFA graduate from the Columbus College of Art and Design, she has signature membership in: Ohio Watercolor Society and Watercolor USA Honor Society. She holds associate membership in: Allied Artists, American Impressionist and National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Societies.
New to acrylic landscapes as of 2021, she debuted with an honorable mention in AcrylicWorks 9 : The Best of Acrylic; and bookends the yearly finalist streak in 2026 with a 3rd place Award for AW13. She is also an avid watercolorist, having 2 pieces in the Ohio Arts Council collection.
Other recent accomplishments have been in receiving the Ohio Watercolor Society’s 2025 Silver Medal, 2nd place in the landscape division of the Artists Magazine’s 40th Annual, and Grand Prize in International Artist magazine’s challenge #141 and #149 Landscapes (’24/’25, Two years in a row!). She is currently represented by the Toledo Museum of Art’s Collector Corner, Gallery 317 (Bryan, OH) and is actively welcoming further representation and group show opportunities as well.
Jennifer opens up her Fostoria, Ohio studio and gallery space: MONgallery and Art Studio, every MONday to visitors. She coined “MON” to represent “Middle Of Nowhere” because of her rural location where she lives with husband, Gary and has 3 sons.
Artist Statement
“Landscapes” Artist’s Series Statement:
My love of landscape originally developed from the discipline of plein air painting. This discipline was interrupted by Covid lockdowns, but became for me a passionate ‘escape’ because, for me, the immersion ‘in’ the landscape is transportive. As a former watercolorist, in my retreat to my studio during Covid, it also brought a Renaissance of sorts for me. I began to explore new things I’d never tried before, like acrylic paint with a palette knife, and I became undone. The palette knife provided a thrilling tactile immediacy, but I’ve also come to use a silicone-tipped implement and utilize string for whipping paint onto the canvas for branches. Such methods act as a necessary handicap in avoiding thin application and push me into the impressionism I love. My only tolerance of a brush would be a cartridge-loaded ink or acrylic ink brush for the tiniest embellishment of tree branches as an “icing”.
Now I continue with polarizing scenes that make me forget my troubles and feel “enveloped” in nature. I try to pick places that anyone can have access to explore and identify with for a segue in joining my immersion.
“Genre/Portraiture” Series Artist Statement:
I had been painting landscapes as a way to escape my troubles; and throughout covid, I began to experiment with media, mediums and techniques that I’d never tried before; such as watercolor on Yupo, a synthetic plastic-like paper. I also spent a lot of time with close family (during covid lock-downs) and so my love for genre themes, including portraits, continued to grow and become very personal. This personal nature involves my affections, feelings, and light-hearted approach as my real midwest reality wears upon my sleeve. I consider myself a ‘deep thinker’, but I’m always looking for humor and hope in life.
Although Yupo is known for it’s ease in subtractive painting, I paint in a layered add-on approach… very seldomly ‘erasing’ what I’ve laid down. This approach is more painstaking in having to only lay one pass down at a time followed by the time it takes to fully dry in-between passes (because we are talking about evaporation on plastic).. but this method gives me a distinctive look and feel that is uncommon for most purveyors of Yupo. I also find myself using watercolor pencils and ink as well.
Portfolio
Click on image or link to see full portfolio
