Quincy Owens

Painter and sculptor Quincy Owens creates art to “play, explore, learn, mess up, build, and destroy. I tinker. I think. I process. I use the visual arts as my delivery system. It is my voice. It is how people can best understand me.” Quincy’s plan for renewal centered around a return trip to Cluj-Napoca, Romania and Budapest, Hungary to build on existing relationships with key people in the arts community. After his experiences and travels, he is already in the process of planning a third trip for proposed workshops and an exhibition. Quincy also focused on his faith, especially challenging himself during his transition to become a full-time artist. “As a spiritual person, I have been continually humbled by what I would describe as so many seeds laid out by God for me to simply care for until harvesting. This cycle of growth has felt like such a blessing.”

In addition to painting, the urge to build has been a focus in the last few years and Quincy has used cardboard and other throwaway materials in larger scale artworks. He credits the renewal experience in positively impacting his artwork in terms of the physical output and also in terms of techniques and scale. He felt empowered to step out of his comfort zone and while he still paints, he is becoming known as a public artist making large-scale installations with a variety of materials including metal and plastics. His reliance on faith and increased confidence have enabled him to enter art competitions, apply for residencies, and take risks with concepts and materials. “In short, I know what the fellowship did. It rewarded me financially to do a project I really wanted to do. What I didn’t know it was going to do was push me so far as an artist and member of the community.”