Beth and Ken Bowser: The Art of Living

Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: 2021/07 – July

Beth and Ken Bowser

Beth and Ken Bowser, 1995

The story of the pandemic is full of tales of couples’ relationships strained by the compelled togetherness.  

On the other hand, Beth and Ken Bowser seem to be the perfect pandemic pair.  

Unlike other couples, forced into becoming perpetual co-workers by the stay-at-home orders, they had shared a world of ministry and creative expression for most of their nearly 44 years together.  

Ken paints, and Beth constructs works from glass.   

They met in Canton, Ohio, in 1975; Ken was then a pastor in the United Methodist Church. Like her husband, Beth also was in the ministry in the United Methodist Church.  She also worked in higher education administration.

In 1995 Ken retired, and the couple moved to Glenville. The couple both had ties to the South and especially Atlanta – Beth was born there, and Ken had received his Masters of Divinity at the Emory University, Candler School of Theology.   

Beginning in the 1960’s Beth visited Glenville regularly, where a favorite uncle had a home.  Beth, on her part, remained active in ministry until 2017. 

Once in Glenville, they set up working art studios in their new home. 

Ken had begun painting in high school.  It wasn’t until seven years after graduation from the seminary he took up painting again – then in oil.   When, a few years later, he met Hudson, Ohio, resident and well-known watercolorist Lowell Ellsworth Smith, he enthusiastically embraced the medium.  

Smith eventually became his mentor, encouraging his art and helping him hone his skills through collaborations with fellow artists and visits to Colorado, New Mexico, and Mexico. 

Glass has been Beth’s passion since she was a young adult.  In 1980, she finally took a course in stained glass production, and has been engaged with glass ever since.    

Along the way, she became interested in kiln-formed glass – a medium she prefers for the unique challenges it offers.  

“Some pieces come out of the kiln as expected, others are happy accidents, while others are accidents waiting to be redeemed,” she explains. Her kiln glassworks include pendants, bowls, plates, and free-hand designs.

Both artists are moved by past travels to Western Europe, Russia, and the Southern Hemisphere. The unimaginable richness of the art in churches and museums that they viewed, and visual images they brought back have inspired and served as a reference point.  

The pandemic has offered the couple freedom to experiment and expand. Ken relished the opportunity it allowed for Beth to observe and critique his work. 

“It’s always helpful to have the eyes and thinking of another person when they look at your work – somebody else’s looking at and reacting is always helpful.”  

As before, Ken is stimulated by his surroundings, the people and landscapes of which are the subject matter of his canvases.  And he finds value in the weekly Studio Alive workshops at The Bascom, where he can draw from live models and interact with fellow artists.  

For Beth, these past 15 months have seen an explosion of production and a chance to focus on working in new methods of kiln-fired glass, including glass sculpture and pressed glass.  

The pandemic has stirred a feeling of the fragility of life.  As Ken so wisely said,  “The pandemic brings one face-to-face with the reality of life; it’s a very wonderful gift that can be gone in just a moment.”

Theirs is a story of a remarkable and long partnership.  The success of which Beth attributes to “mutual trust, a shared ministry, and separate bank accounts.”

Beth and Ken’s art is available for purchase at the The Bascom gift shop in Highlands (thebascom.org), or viewings may be scheduled by emailing  Beth at [email protected], and Ken at [email protected].