About
Pia Dowse is an artist and painting conservator with a particular focus on both as a craft. She undertook a Fine Art degree at Falmouth University and went on to study painting conservation at the Hamilton kerr Institute (HKI), University of Cambridge in 2012 eventually becoming a QEST scholar in painting conservation.
It was while undertaking the 3-year masters at HKI that Pia developed her love for the craft of all things painting and it was from here she began her career as both artist and painting conservator. The course at HKI had at the core of its educational agenda, the historical reconstructions of great master paintings. In undertaking this Pia could practice manual dexterity and artistic skill but there were also important lessons about the knowledge and understanding of an artist’s materials and how they were ordered and handled to produce the desired effects.
Much of this practice and knowledge informs her own paintings now, transforming the paintings from being executed in a spontaneous wet-in-wet approach to a more considered layering technique.
Also working as a qualified easel painting conservator has meant understanding paintings more as 3 dimensional objects; objects constructed from layers of different materials which are constantly interacting with each other and the environment within which they exist.
Pia believes that having this material understanding as an artist is both inspiring and empowering as it puts you in control of the materials you are working with and you learn how to utilize them to your own desired effect. A blog discussing Pia’s painting techniques and materials will soon be up and running, do head to the blog section to check it out.
Pia now works from her painting and conservation studio in Sheffield. She regularly exhibits her paintings at Greenstage Gallery If you would like to get in touch about purchasing, exhibiting or commissioning an artwork from Pia, please get in touch directly through email or instagram (see contact page) or through Greenstage Gallery.
