Lee Cowan
Sculpture & Mixed Media
email: lee@StoneCountyArt.com
At Cowan’s Stone County Art studio, you will see mosaic tables, benches, and stepping-stones as well as mixed media wall hangings, mobiles, fountains, and sculptures. All of her work is hand-made, one-of-a-kind, deeply textured and sensuous. Some touches the spiritual; some is funny. Most of the pieces will work well both outside and inside your home. The highly unusual work, which ranges from primitive to post- modern, often incorporates a wide variety of found objects. Cowan’s Stone County Art has won a number of awards and honors. The Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock will feature her sculptures for several months in 2013.
Lee discovered her artistic self late in life, during a clay class at the Arkansas Art Center. Wanting next to make larger objects that could withstand the outdoor elements, she began experimenting with a variety of cement products. She and her husband left their professional careers in Little Rock in 1998 to move deep into the Ozark Mountains. Once there, she pursued her art, writing, and music as her husband was becoming an award-winning winemaker. Their radical transformation is chronicled in her book Except for all the Snakes, I Just Love it out Here (The News from Stone County Arkansas), which will be available on the tour.
The work runs from $15 to $1000. Cash and checks accepted.
Directions:
Getting to Lee’s studio is an adventure in itself. It is about 7 miles from pavement (four miles past Joe Bruhin’s studio and 28 miles from the Court House Square in Mountain View). A natural, uneven path in the forest floor takes you to the 15 stair steps leading up to the studio, which is on the second floor of a new 40 x 40 metal building filled with windows. Unfortunately, there is no help available for those with mobility issues. A charming outhouse with stained glass windows and a tiled floor is available for your use at the bottom of the stairs. If you like, feel free to bring a blanket, your favorite beverage, and a snack to picnic in the small family vineyard from which their award-winning wines come.
At the Fox Post Office, set your odometer (all mileage below is from the Fox Post Office).
Take the road (Ticer) that runs beside the post office for .1 miles, then turn RIGHT on Branscom-Broyles Parkway.
At .3 miles (again, all mileage indications are from the Fox Post Office), turn LEFT onto Red River Road, and follow this road until it dead-ends at 6.7 miles. (Along the way, you will pass Joe Bruhin’s Fox Mountain Pottery at 3.6 miles; be sure to AVOID the lefts at 3.7 and 4.8 miles).
At 6.7 miles is a “T” intersection: turn LEFT, cross the concrete bridge, and at 7.5 miles, take a sharp left into our drive. It is marked 3425 Meadow Creek Road, Lee and Mike, No Trespassing, Beware of Dogs.
Lee’s studio is on a gravel road that runs behind their hand-made, earth-bermed house.
Map:
