Diverse Directions - Callie Bowland

Author/Artist Name

• Callie E. Bowland, Murray State UniversityFollow

Files

Academic Level at Time of Creation

Senior

Date of Creation

Spring 5-4-2026

Artist Statement

My ceramic works explore stress, masking, and how they affect the body over time, in addition to what can be considered the true self, and how society reacts to it. They all feature an element of abstract, twisting flesh.

Reliquary uses it as a very literal interpretation of inner beauty, turning flesh and bone into an ornate vessel, playing with the parallel of the human body as a vessel for the mind. It also poses the question of what makes up a person, by contrasting the corporeal flesh and bone with a mask- like face–are we the physical body itself, or the image we have of ourselves?

Itch uses it in a wound, as a representation of physical tension and the human psychological state that parallels how an animal can end up scratching or licking at a painful spot until it is raw, not understanding that it is making their pain worse.

Ecdysis uses it to make up a figure that represents mental struggles and parts of the self that get hidden from others through masking the toll that takes on the body, as well as the relief that comes from removing the “mask”. With this piece I was thinking about how mental illness is often represented as demons and monsters that afflict the victim, and how people with mental illness, despite there being more understanding of it in today’s society, are often still treated with fear, disgust, and judgement.

Two significant influences for my ceramic work are Junji Ito and Louise Bourgeois.  Ito’s particular handling of horror, especially in Uzumaki and The Enigma of Amigara Fault, inspire the way I’m abstracting flesh, and the body in general, as ropelike, twisted coils.

With Louise Borugeois, I’m especially interested in the ways she distorted the feminine form to critique how women are treated in patriarchal society. Her piece Arch of Hysteria in particular was an influence in Ecdysis, where I referenced and then distorted my own form.

My design work, a style guide for the hypothetical restaurant brand Of a Particular Size and Shape and Below Us, combines brutalism and concepts from nuclear semiotics to create an experimental dining experience that is expressly anti-human. The main influence for the style guide, nuclear semiotics, originates in a report titled “Expert judgment on markers to deter inadvertent human intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant”, which contains proposals on how to deter future humans from entering nuclear waste disposal sites.

Advisor/Mentor

John Utgaard; Gregory Scott Cook

Description

3 ceramic sculptures, and one digital style guide.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Bowland, Callie E., "Diverse Directions - Callie Bowland" (2026). B.A./B.S. Practicum Group Exhibit (ART 499). 91.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art499/91