A new exhibit at the Winter Visual Arts Center spotlights two faculty artists, as well as the range of mediums and techniques students experience at Franklin & Marshall. 

“Masked & Unmasked,” two parallel solo exhibitions by Jason Thompson and Ashley Moog Bowlsbey, use unexpected materials to explore identity.

Thompson has worked as the Winter Center’s studio manager and sculpture technician for the past 10 years. Moog Bowlsbey is an adjunct professor of photography at F&M and nearby Pennsylvania College of Art & Design. 

Thompson’s body of work – “a kind of accidental geometry,” he said – uses compressed shards, fragments and fibers encapsulated in acrylic. Geode-like forms protrude from the gallery’s floor and walls. Grid-inspired sculptures attached to a pulley system hang above prints bursting with bright acrylic, ink and other mixed media.  

Moog Bowlsbey’s collection of large portraits feature models fully draped in discarded makeup wipes, collected from 100 women over three years. Titled “Second Skin,” the exhibit “takes away access to each model’s face and body to show the haunting reality of our emphasis on one’s outer shell,” Moog Bowlsbey said. 

Below, get to know the artists.

Artist Jason Thompson is the Winter Center’s studio manager and sculpture technician. (Photo by Deb Grove)

What initially drew you to sculpture as a medium?

Thompson: I grew up in a very industrial family. My dad's side built riverboats that push coal up and down the Ohio River. So, I grew up watching people weld and do metal manipulation – a good part of sculpture. A stepfather of mine had a body shop and taught me how to repair cars and paint cars. I just had a lot of crossover life experience with sculptural processes and materials. 

Ashley, you identify as a lens-based artist. How does that differ from photography? 

Moog Bowlsbey: I don't always do straight photography. I also dabble in printmaking, bookmaking and collage work, but it almost always still stems from a lens for a photographic process. Some of the pieces in this show are printmaking, but they started as photographs that I then turned into printmaking pieces. A lens is always involved.

Are there any spaces on F&M’s campus that you find particularly inspiring?

Thompson: The Winter Visual Arts Center. It's such a cool building. I've been here for 10 years; I was part of the planning, part of moving out of the old space and developing this space. This feels comfortable for me. This feels like home.

Moog Bowlsbey: I love the lobby here in Winter Visual Arts because there are so many windows. Photography is all about light, but I'm always away from the light when I'm teaching or working in dark rooms or digital print labs. I also have always loved the library. I actually used [Shadek Fackenthal] library here when I was an undergrad at Pennsylvania College of Art & Design. I used to come here to do my research for my thesis. 

Ashley Moog Bowlsbey is an adjunct professor of photography at F&M and nearby Pennsylvania College of Art & Design. (Photo by Deb Grove)

In just a few weeks, more members of the Class of 2030 will receive their acceptance letters to F&M. What advice do you have for new students curious about studying the arts here? 

Thompson: A big part of being an artist and art student is being in your community and feeling comfortable. Come over here and get to know us, even if you're not enrolled in a class yet.

I want to get them in the spaces. I want to give them a sense of ownership over the studios they're going to be in for the next four years. We're a tight little family, and a big part of being an art person or an artist type is being in a familiar, comfortable setting.

Moog Bowlsbey: Everyone I've met here has been very personable, very kind and very passionate about what they're doing. Come to Winter Visual Arts, see what shows are happening, talk to the professors, talk to the staff and go from there to see what classes fit your interests. 

There are so many different possibilities. There are so many different avenues. Find your passion within the arts and follow that, because you really have to care about what you're doing in the arts.

Studio Art at F&M

Develop your natural artistic talent and hone your technical skill in an intellectually captivating liberal arts environment. By studying studio art at F&M, you’ll explore a vast range of artistic media, create art in a diverse range of spaces, and uncover how art inextricably links individuals around the world.

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