Biography
Janice Lowry was born in 1946 in Phoenix, Arizona. She was one of five children to a mother who had been married seven times. Due to the instability and everchanging family dynamics she faced in her youth, Lowry turned to art as a way of comfort. The chaos and instability she faced at a young age is reflected in a lot of her early pieces. Lowry began to keep a diary at age 11 as a way to track her feelings. This diary evolved throughout her life, becoming more visual and a way for Lowry to “prove” herself as an artist. By the time of her passing, there were 126 journals. Throughout her life, Lowry was attracted to objects from the real world. She started a collection of these objects, finding the majority at swap meets, thrift stores, and trash bins. A lot of these objects were incorporated into her artworks. Lowry did not begin her art education until later in her life, when she was a divorced mother of two. She earned a bachelor’s degree at the Art Center College of Design in Pasedena in 1979. She earned her master’s degree a year later at the same institution, and taught there until her second marriage. Lowry eventually married Jon Gothold, an art director who would provide great support to her art career. She took a break from art after marrying Gothold in order to have her third son in 1985. In 1986, Lowry returned to teaching 1986, first at Cypress College and then the Art Institute of Orange County. Lowry and her family remained in Santa, California until her passing. Lowry died in 2009 at age 63 due to an aggressive liver cancer.
Source of Biography
https://www.kohlerfoundation.org/preservation/major-collections/janice-lowry/
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-me-janice-lowry-gothold3-2009oct03-story.html
https://www.kohlerfoundation.org/preservation/major-collections/janice-lowry/