Lowry, Janice Ann, 1946-2009

Painter, cartoonist, collagist; Orange Co., (Santa Ana) Calif.

Janice Lowry (1946- ) is a collagist and painter in Phoenix, Ariz. and Santa Ana, Calif.

Lowry began her collage journals as a student at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif.

Janice Lowry (1946-2009) created paintings, collages, and assemblages in Arizona and California. She is best known for her boxes: homemade frames filled with found objects that often questioned and commented on life, death, journeys, and rites of passages.

Lowry was born in 1946 in Phoenix, Arizona. She started writing diaries when she was 11, and, with the exception of a decade, continued journaling until 2007. She married Jan Gilbert in 1965 and had two sons, Brandon and Kevin. During this period Lowry also set up a studio and started showing her artwork. In 1973, the family moved to California. Shortly after, she began her long battle with depression, and she divorced Jan in 1976.

Remaining in California, Lowry went to Art Center College of Design where she earned a BFA with honors in 1979 and a MFA in painting in 1980. She married Jon Gothold in 1983, and had another son, Brent. Her work sold well in the 1980's, but after her studio was destroyed in an earthquake in 1987, she took a break from making art.

Janice Lowry's first solo show was at Art Space in 1980, and the gallery continued to showcase and sell her work for many years. She taught at Art Center, Cypress College, and Oakridge Private School. Among other shows, she was part of an exhibition about 9/11 at Legacy Arts Gallery in 2001. In 2007, she was named the region's "Best Visual Artist" by the Orange County Weekly. After several health issues, Janice Lowry died of liver cancer in 2009.