In typography, a "glyph" is a specific shape, design, or representation of a character. It also comes from the Greek word "carving" and the verb "to hollow out, engrave, carve."

Using an assortment of mixed media – cut paper, gouache, graphite – Natasha Bowdoin meticulously constructs imagery culled from a collection of texts. As the artist transcribes passages from notable literary figures (Lewis Carroll, Herman Melville, Jorge Luis Borges, for example) the collages in turn take on a new meaning: moving from stories to chants, from symbols to presences. The text grows less legible, becoming merely suggestive of language. These dense abstractions press sentences past their breaking point, and through the cracks something less comprehensible can be glimpsed. They are a reminder of the power, limitations, impossibilities and aspirations of language.

Bowdoin’s inspiration for the exhibition lies in text that invokes some kind of journey and transformation, such as Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and selections from Borges’ Short Fictions. The experience of reading is channeled into the activity of drawing. Bowdoin reshapes and recontexualizes language through seemingly perfectly constructed collages that gleefully echo with imperfections.

Natasha Bowdoin received a MFA from Tyler School of Art, PA, a BA and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from Brandeis University, MA, and also completed studies at Slade School of Art, London. She completed a residency at The Core Program,Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX from 2008-2010 and was recently awarded a residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE (2012). Bowdoin is a recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant (2007). Her work has recently been exhibited in group shows at Hardesty Arts Center, Tulsa, OK (catalog essay by Michelle Grabner); the CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands; and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC. Bowdoin will complete a new site-specific installation at the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, GA for a solo exhibition this summer. Bowdoin lives and works in Houston, TX. This is her second solo exhi bition at Monya Rowe Gallery.