2024 Urban Arts Tour Artist Profiles
Owen Parnell - Glow Dome
Tour Location: Stop 16 - 1157 Bewdley Avenue
Artist Bio
Owen Parnell is an Artist and Acupuncturist, practicing Visual Arts for himself and Healing Arts for the greater community. Owen’screative process is one which follows intuition and impulse. Much of this work echoes landscape and nature, emphasizing the fractaline qualities of flora and fauna. Balancing control and lack of control to create a visually interesting conversation between the two. Owen uses automatism, intent on observing the patterns that come forth, altering those patterns, and seeing how the difference is integrated into the whole.
In sculpture Owen contrasts precise geometries, reminiscent of R. Buckminster Fuller, with rough edges and loose ends. His painting, on the other hand, contains flowing transitions between abstract geometric forms and representations of the microcosm, the macrocosm, and the in-between. Owen often describes his painting as Semi-Abstract, as it is meant to be seen somewhere in between representation of form, and simply paint on a canvas.
Owen finds inspiration from sacred art traditions, and art that serves a cultural and spiritual purpose as well as being considered on a visual and conceptual level. Though raised far from their traditional territories, Owen is of Neihiyaw (Cree) ancestry, and a member of the Métis Nation of British Columbia. For several years he apprenticed with the late Coast Salish carver Curtis Christie. Owen has been part of a number of different Indigenous Art Projects, including artist-run centre exhibitions, private, and city-commissioned murals.
After graduating from Camosun College’s Visual Arts Program in 2014, Owen acquired his acupuncture license, and became a father. He is now creating a life that holds space for both his acupuncture and art careers