Stan Bowman

Stan Bowman (1934–2021), An Artist on the Leading Creative Edge

Famous for his bright colored shirts and suspenders, Stan was an artist, educator, husband, father, grandfather and a genuine creative spirit. He was always exploring new ways of creating art. From his early days of working in photography, he experimented with collages, in 2 and 3 dimensions. He was not afraid to put rotting fruit or tools on a scanner, and reveled in creating fascinating patterns out of seemingly mundane content. He was an early pioneer in digital art who brought his playful sense of collage to images of people’s faces or locations. Stan immersed his teaching and creative practice in the digital revolution, dubbing his explorative body of work Digi-Painting, App-stracts, Floating Shapes, Geo Abstracts, and Sculpted Paintings.

Stan was born on April 27th 1934 in Oakland, California, younger son of Joseph Walter and Hazel (née Almquist) Bowman. From an early age he loved to play, having made his own toy soldiers along with his older brother Bill, pouring lead into molds - before the era of plastic. He was gifted a camera and developing kit in 1951, spurring his interest in what would become a lifelong passion for photography.

Stan entered the architecture program at University of California Berkeley in 1957, and while taking a course in lighting had the opportunity to explore his interest in photography through a class project. He graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree.

As a striking tall young man who loved to play guitar, he caught the eye of Mary Ann McDermid while in the Berkeley area. They were married on June 13th 1959 and started a family, having two sons, Eric and Greg. He took up a job working in architecture, but began to have strong desires to work in photography, stating that he wanted to make images, not buildings. In 1970 he applied to the Master’s program in Photography at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and began his path as an artist.

Upon completion of the MFA he was offered a teaching position at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and moved the family from the sunny southwest to rainy upstate New York. Stan taught at Cornell starting in 1973 with a fledgeling program in photography. He became interested in computers in the 1980s, and received a grant to acquire computer equipment to aid in creating digital imagery. He was the first faculty member in art at Cornell to work with computers as an artistic process. He served as chair of the Art Department as well as acting dean of the College of Art, Architecture and Planning. He continued teaching both photography and digital art until retiring in 1999, when he went on to work full time as an artist.

As a member of State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca, along with Mary Ann, he continued to produce many works and participate in exhibits. Working with mobile phones as cameras and a variety of image processing applications he created an amazing catalog of images as well as video, animation and music. He also ran his own giclee printing business, producing archival quality prints for artists in the community.

Stan had numerous shows, residencies and exhibitions during his career as an artist and has his work in the collections of several museums including the University of New Mexico Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Bibliotech Nationale de Paris and the German Photographic Society in Cologne, Germany.

Stan passed away peacefully in his home in Ithaca on July 5th 2021. He is survived by wife Mary Ann, sons Eric and Greg, and grandsons Benjamin and William. He was preceded in death by his brother Bill in 2019.

Stan was loved by so many and will be missed. Stan’s artwork can be seen at .

See a video interview of Stan from the television program OffLine from 1993: H2ELPiWvCZM

A celebration will be held in Stan’s honor on Saturday July 31st at 4:00PM. Please email offl for details and to RSVP.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the State of the Art Gallery, Ithaca. 120 West State St. Ithaca, NY 14850 Bangs Funeral Home is assisting the family.

Stan Bowman (1934–2021), An Artist on the Leading Creative Edge

Famous for his bright colored shirts and suspenders, Stan was an artist, educator, husband, father, grandfather and a genuine creative spirit. He was always exploring new ways of creating art. From his early days of working in photography, he experimented with collages, in 2 and 3 dimensions. He was not afraid to put rotting fruit or tools on a scanner, and reveled in creating fascinating patterns out of seemingly mundane content. He was an early pioneer in digital art who brought his playful sense of collage to images of people’s faces or locations. Stan immersed his teaching and creative practice in the digital revolution, dubbing his explorative body of work Digi-Painting, App-stracts, Floating Shapes, Geo Abstracts, and Sculpted Paintings.

Stan was born on April 27th 1934 in Oakland, California, younger son of Joseph Walter and Hazel (née Almquist) Bowman. From an early age he loved to play, having made his own toy soldiers along with his older brother Bill, pouring lead into molds - before the era of plastic. He was gifted a camera and developing kit in 1951, spurring his interest in what would become a lifelong passion for photography.

Stan entered the architecture program at University of California Berkeley in 1957, and while taking a course in lighting had the opportunity to explore his interest in photography through a class project. He graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree.

As a striking tall young man who loved to play guitar, he caught the eye of Mary Ann McDermid while in the Berkeley area. They were married on June 13th 1959 and started a family, having two sons, Eric and Greg. He took up a job working in architecture, but began to have strong desires to work in photography, stating that he wanted to make images, not buildings. In 1970 he applied to the Master’s program in Photography at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and began his path as an artist.

Upon completion of the MFA he was offered a teaching position at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and moved the family from the sunny southwest to rainy upstate New York. Stan taught at Cornell starting in 1973 with a fledgeling program in photography. He became interested in computers in the 1980s, and received a grant to acquire computer equipment to aid in creating digital imagery. He was the first faculty member in art at Cornell to work with computers as an artistic process. He served as chair of the Art Department as well as acting dean of the College of Art, Architecture and Planning. He continued teaching both photography and digital art until retiring in 1999, when he went on to work full time as an artist.

As a member of State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca, along with Mary Ann, he continued to produce many works and participate in exhibits. Working with mobile phones as cameras and a variety of image processing applications he created an amazing catalog of images as well as video, animation and music. He also ran his own giclee printing business, producing archival quality prints for artists in the community.

Stan had numerous shows, residencies and exhibitions during his career as an artist and has his work in the collections of several museums including the University of New Mexico Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Bibliotech Nationale de Paris and the German Photographic Society in Cologne, Germany.

Stan passed away peacefully in his home in Ithaca on July 5th 2021. He is survived by wife Mary Ann, sons Eric and Greg, and grandsons Benjamin and William. He was preceded in death by his brother Bill in 2019.

Stan was loved by so many and will be missed. Stan’s artwork can be seen at stanbowman.com .

See a video interview of Stan from the television program OffLine from 1993: H2ELPiWvCZM

A celebration will be held in Stan’s honor on Saturday July 31st at 4:00PM. Please email offl [email protected] for details and to RSVP.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the State of the Art Gallery, Ithaca. 120 West State St. Ithaca, NY 14850 https://www.soagithaca.org Bangs Funeral Home is assisting the family.

To send a flower arrangement or to plant trees in memory of Stan Bowman, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store .

Saturday, July 31, 2021 4:00 PM