ART GRADUATES 2017
LANCE O'DOWD
Bio
Lance O’Dowd is an artist and sculptor living in Alamosa, Colorado.  He was born on July 17, 1992.  Mr. O’Dowd says he never planned on being an artist, as he was pursuing an architectural and engineering career.  His plans changed once he took an art class and fell in love with it. He learned technical skills with woodworking and welding and this has helped him create incredible works of art in different mediums and blending different materials.  Every medium he uses has its own unique qualities and also its own difficulties.   Mr. O’Dowd works with bronze, ceramics, wood, steel, stained glass, jewelry, horseshoes, glass and stone.   He is currently working towards his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Adams State University.  He received his Fine Woodworking Associates of Science degree along with his welding certification from Trinidad State Junior College.  His biggest influence in the art world he attributes to his father Dennis O’Dowd. When he was really young he would help his dad mat and frame pictures, do landscaping creations and anything else that had a creative twist on it.
In the summer of 2017 his Mr. B will be on exhibit at the Artscape in Alamosa, Colorado. Recent group exhibitions include Adams State University at the Cloyde Snook Gallery 2017, Art Department Main Foyer 2016, Hatfield Gallery 2016 and 2015. Â Alamosa Chamber Commerce Art Gala 2016, Upcycle Art Festival- Denver Colorado 2014, and Trinidad State Junior College 2013.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My art is about my struggles and how I have emerged and overcome being bound down and held back. Â I suffer with severe dyslexia, which has created in me an intense need to persevere and show the world what I can do. Â I actually thank God for having given me dyslexia, because it has made me strive harder in order to become the man I have become. Â I am hoping that when the viewer sees my art they feel moved by the vision of overcoming struggles and mastery of materials and artistic expression.
As I have progressed and grown in the field of art, I am trying to make my own conceptualization of my identity in the art world. I am pushing the boundaries by blending different mediums together to give an example of not being held back by one’s own perceived limitations and using those materials to address different concepts. I am a sculptor that works with bronze, ceramics, wood, steel, stained glass, jewelry, horseshoes, glass and stone.
All of us have at one time or another have been bound by restraints either actual or imagined, the true test of inner strength is pushing and pulling through until we emerge as the person God has chosen us to be. It is up to the viewer on what the constriction or struggle in my work is, is it that I limit myself, the world is putting up barriers and restrictions or is another person making that decision for me?  Â
My philosophy is that I have a love for God, and with my art work I try to glorify him in everything I do.  He doesn’t ask for perfection, but he does ask for me to do the best job I can. I am striving for excellence in craftsmanship, in the style and creativity of the art. I am trying to be sensitive to the materials I am working with. For example my Heart Constricted is made of wood with metal bands, the wood being pliable, life like and a sense of uniqueness whereas the metal is constricting, strong, heavy representing life’s events that happen to everyone.
I don’t just go for the status quo, I believe one of the main reasons that I don’t just settle for status quo is that even though I suffer with dyslexia I have never wanted to use this disability as an excuse but as a reason to be successful.