Christine Bowen was an acclaimed Irish contemporary artist known for her exuberantly colourful paintings, distinct visual textures, and deep dedication to the natural world. She operated from her well-known studio gallery on Henry Street in Kenmare, County Kerry up until 2014 then from her Kenmare home studio, leaving an indelible mark on the Irish art community. 

Born in Cheshire, Bowen was educated across England, Nigeria, and France. She initially built a successful twenty-year career as a colour consultant and interior designer based in Dublin.   In 1987, she chose to pivot entirely toward fine art. She returned to full-time education, first earning a diploma with distinction from RTC Sligo and later graduating with a B.A. (Hons) in Fine Art from the University of Ulster in Belfast in 1994.  

Bowen worked primarily on canvas and paper using mixed media, including acrylics, wax, and graphite. In addition to the native Irish flora, fauna and species featured in her work she was inspired by her travels, in particular frequent visits to Kenya in East Africa, with the tropical fish, flowers and colours of that coast evident in her painting. According to Dr Frances Ruane honorary member of the Royal Hibernian Academy “What sets her apart from so many other artists who are drawn to this area is her resistance to cliche,” she wrote. “She avoids the panoramic landscape, preferring to distil a ‘sense of place’ by focusing on more intimate subjects – a swarm of bees, a stray sheep, the glimmer of fish below the surface of the water, treating these with refreshing originality.”   Her artwork is also influenced by history, archaeology and poetry, most notable being W.B Yeats, Lorca and Cohen and their poetry can bees inscribed and featured in many of her works.  

During her prolific four-decade career, she exhibited across Ireland, Europe, and North America. Following her graduation from the University of Ulster Art & Design in 1994, she staged prominent solo exhibitions at The Vaults Gallery at Bath's Theatre Royal (1991), The Factory Theatre Gallery in Sligo (1994), and held regular exhibitions with the Tom Caldwell Galleries in Belfast between 1996-2002.  Her naturalistic, texture-rich portfolios were highly sought after, earning her places in group exhibitions with the Royal Ulster Academy, the Kenny Gallery in Galway, Limerick University Gallery, and One Oxford Street in Belfast. Bowen's creative reaching extended across borders to galleries in France, Malta, and Croatia, as well as an international modern Irish delegation showcase at the Bank One Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2001. Locally, outside traditional commercial networks, she showcased rolling collections from her Gallery on Henry Street in Kenmare, County Kerry, and maintained a permanent exhibition footprint at Sheen Falls Lodge, where her custom botanical murals and framed series remain publicly displayed.  

A tribute to the life and Art of Christine Bowen featuring an exhibition of her works will take place as part of Art at the Falls in the Sheen Falls Lodge Hotel Kenmare in September 2026.