Kendra J. Dowd

An award-winning, self-taught textile and mixed media artist, I'm frugal and sentimental, an eagle-eyed scavenger, and an inventive storyteller.  Although I've traveled and lived elsewhere, I was born and raised in New England and feel a deep connection to its topography and seasonal changes.

My inspiration for creating a new piece may be sparked by a found object that suggests a story to me, an impulse to capture a particular shape found in nature using whatever materials are at hand, or perhaps by the desire to express a particular feeling or idea.  Sometimes I just lose myself in the process of creating, using my hands, making choices, experimenting as I put bits together to make something that's never existed before.

I'm the wife of an amazingly supportive husband, mother of three beautiful grown daughters, "Nana" to three beloved grandchildren, a life-long dancer, avid walker, and nature enthusiast.  My husband and I live in Arlington, MA, a quick 15-minute bus ride from Harvard Square and a two minute walk to Spy Pond.

My work has been exhibited locally at the Old Schwamb Mill, Arlington; the Medford Historical Society, Medford; the Beebe Estate, Melrose; the Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River; the Nave Gallery and Nave Gallery Annex, Somerville; and at Arlington Open Studios, Arlington. I serve on the board of the Rising Star Quilters Guild (member since 2004) and two pieces from my Nest Series are included in Dimensional Cloth: Sculpture by Contemporary Textile Artists by Andra F. Stanton (Schiffer Publishers), 2018. More recently, a textile portrait I stitched of a young victim of violence was included in Stitching Stolen Lives: The Social Justice Sewing Academy Remembrance Project by Sara Trail and Teresa Duryea Wong, (C&T Publishing), 2021.