Barefoot on his Harley... and UC Berkeley in the 60's...
Born in 1944, Hal
Stowers, is a link between Old Florida and New Florida. Hal grew up in a small log cabin
in the woods of Safety Harbor, Florida. He still lives in the same county, but Pinellas is
now the most densely populated, per square mile, county in the state of Florida. Across
the tidal flats and bay from his studio/residence, which is tucked away on a mangrove
rimmed bayou, are barrier islands with sugar white beaches, sea oats, sand dunes, palm
groves and mangrove forests. Standing on one of these jewel-like islands, one can see to
the west, the open horizon, so dominant in Hal's art. To the east and far south is almost
continuous development including some areas of wall to wall high rise buildings. All but a
few of the high rises have been built since Hal's childhood. It is this environment,
juxtaposing pristine natural areas and open water, with dense development, which has given
rise to this artist and his art.
Hal at age sixteen,
a young surfboard entrepreneur,
Clearwater Beach, Florida, 1960
|
Hal & B.J. taking a break in the Berkeley Hills, overlooking San Francisco Bay -
California, Summer 1968 |
Hal spent summers of his
teenage years on Clearwater Beach, renting out surfboards he owned ... and watching, day
after day, the dazzling coming and going of sky, sand and sea. He rode to the island
everyday on his Harley, barefoot, in a bathing suit. A nature freak who always felt he
would be a creative person, he chose to study landscape architecture and on a larger
scale, regional design and planning. Professor Herrick Smith, Chairman, Department of
Landscape Architecture, at the University of Florida, was one of Hal’s early mentors. Graduate school at Berkeley, during
the height of the "People's Park" and "Haight/Ashbury" era of 1967-69,
served as "future shock," for this small town, Florida boy. Although Hal never
really liked being a student, he respected and loved the interface with his active and
cutting edge Berkeley professors including Garrett Eckbo, then Chairman of the Department
of Landscape Architecture, College of Environmental Design, Donald Appleyard and the late
J.B. Jackson . He delighted in talking landscapes, life and motorcycles with J.B. Jackson,
and in having the opportunity to ride the "touring" professor's BMW around the
Berkeley hills. He elected to round out his studies by enrolling in a course with noted
sculptor Pomodoro. Leaving Berkeley, he carried with him a wax positive which later was
cast in bronze.
 |
 |
Back in Florida,
Hal, Chief of Planning,
Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council,
expressing his environmental concerns
(after hours),
1970. |
Home Again!
Returning to his home area on the
Gulf of Mexico, he accepted a position with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and was soon promoted to
Chief of Planning. He authored and illustrated a hand book entitled REGIONAL DESIGN GUIDE.
The publication won a national award. After only eighteen months, he left the TBRPC, and
began painting canvases of pristine natural areas that were fast
becoming bulldozed and developed.
Since then, Stowers canvases, watercolors, monotypes, mixed media,
sculpture, limited edition original lithographs, etching/aquatints, photogravures and
digital works have been shared with the public in group showings and more than twenty
one-person exhibitions. His art has been avidly collected by hundreds of corporate and
private collectors.
|
Hal in his studio, 1976,
painting a mangrove study,
Monochromatic Period 1971-77.
Photo by Gordon Myhte
|
LITTLE PALM ISLAND, FLORIDA KEYS - Under the coconut palms and "starry starry
night," B.J. and Hal celebrate the 25th anniversary of first solo exhibition of
environmental art, and their 30th wedding anniversary, 1996.
|
Turn of the
Millennium Artist Hal Stowers
Throughout the
years, recognition for Hal Stowers' art and environmental efforts has come from important
and diverse entities. The thread they share is an increasing awareness and concern for the
quality of our environment and what we are leaving for future generations.
Hal Stowers
was proclaimed a "Natural Treasure," by Tampa Bay
Area's Pinellas County, Florida, as part of the county's 75th Diamond Jubilee Celebration
in 1987. He was asked to create the Official Commemorative of this year-long celebration.
During the 1993 Legislative Session, Secretary
of State Jim Smith and the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs
presented a three month long, major retrospective one-person exhibition, in the
twenty-second floor Capitol Gallery, entitled "HAL STOWERS, WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL ART.
'THE GULF TO THE CARIBBEAN.' " The exhibition
commemorated "The Year of the Gulf of Mexico," a program to protect and restore
the Gulf environment, involving states bordering the Gulf.
The Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture,
University of Florida, recognized Hal Stowers as "Distinguished
Landscape Architecture Alumnus 1993." Professor Emeritus
and past Chairman of the Department, Herrick H. Smith, says of his former student,
"He turned from one form of landscape architecture to another; from an
administrative, planning context to an illustrative and communicative context that is
still landscape architecture ... Landscape architecture is an interesting blend of science
and art and has a strong social context -- now he explores that and everything else as a
painter." In 1995, Hal Stowers was elected a Full Member
of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
The Florida Association of Realtors has
sponsored an ongoing exhibition, since 1991, at their state headquarters in Orlando
entitled, "HAL STOWERS, WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL ART - 'FLORIDA, TWO DECADES.'" In
1997 the organization acquired
the works in the exhibit as its permanent collection.
For more of the
story see "ARTIST - WALKING TREE WHISPERS" and "ADVENTURES"
|
