Wherever Bill Bowerman goes, he carries a pocketful of 3-inch-by-5-inch blank notecards and a ballpoint pen. The cards become miniature pieces of canvas where quick sketches of human figures or still lifes can be recorded for use later in larger pastel or acrylic paintings.
"There are two or three a day that will see the light of day," he said.
Bowerman's art is simplistic, yet complex. He borrows from calligraphy, surrealism and cartoons to create images that sometimes trick the mind. He calls his style of art "iririni" a word devised by randomly circling parts of names on a page of the New York Times.
"I'm in the field of social psychology so a lot of my work is about faces and emotions, hopes and dreams, anxiety and conflict, social interaction," the Lawrence artist said, adding that he likes to explore how the brain processes the information he puts down on paper or canvas.
For example, one of his black-and-white acrylic paintings is a vase holding three long-stemmed flowers. The vase is made of a series of curved lines; the lines are not connected. When one looks at the painting, however, the brain seems to draw a border around the lines so it can interpret it as a vase.
Another black-and-white acrylic painting shows a figure playing a cello-like instrument. The musician, however, does not have a body and the bow of the instrument is misplaced, giving the work a subtle surrealistic effect.
"My style is simple lines," he said. "It takes a while to get the lines to do what you want and to have punch to them."
Bowerman, who has a doctorate degree from Harvard University and works as a consultant in the areas of technology, psychology and graphic art and design, grew up in an artistic family: His mother and his mother's sister were professional artists. His maternal grandmother filled her home with paintings and ceramics. His father was an amateur photographer, his uncle was an architect and his grandfather was a mechanical engineer.
Bowerman's wife, Carolyn, is a violinist. One of his daughters, Eva, is studying art history at Yale University and creates collages and photographs. His other daughter, Christy, is an amateur photographer.
Bowerman said he began taking his art seriously in the 1980s, even though he had drawn most of his life.
"By 1985, I had committed myself to being an artist," he said. "In the mid-1980s I joined the Lawrence Art Guild and showed my work for the first time at Art in the Park. That was one of the scariest things I've ever done."
The reaction to his work was enthusiastic, and he has since shown his work during the Lawrence ArtWalk, Harvest of Arts and Lawrence Art Guild exhibits.
"And I've started entering juried shows," he said.
Seeing himself as a professional artist encouraged Bowerman to explore other media and styles by taking classes in ceramics, silk screening and oil painting at the Lawrence Arts Center. He also would like to explore computer art and animation.
Bowerman's art, which can be seen online at www.iririni.com, is part of the Lawrence Art Guild's All-Member Show on display through Jan. 29 at the Lawrence Arts Center, 200 W. Ninth St.
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