KALAMAZOO, MI — More than 40 paintings were stored away in the late Dwayne Lowder’s attic, slated to be tossed before former colleague and friend Jack Carney got his hands on them and donated the artwork to Western Michigan University.
Lowder, who died in 2018, was a professor in the WMU art department from 1966-1982.
“He is one of the best artists I have ever personally known and maybe the best and most talented faculty member that Western has ever had,” professor emeritus Jack Carney said.
An exhibit of the work found in Lowder’s attic, titled “I bet you wouldn’t give it to me even if I asked,” is on display at the Monroe-Brown Gallery in WMU’s Richmond Center for Visual Arts.
“If he kept these paintings, then he liked these paintings," Carney said. “He may have thrown more of his work away than he ever kept.”
After his time as a professor, Lowder and a friend moved to a rural area in Virginia. They built a sheep shed and greenhouses and Lowder had space to “be an artist,” Carney said.
“He loved the freedom of being an artist,” he said. “He turned the property into this magnificent landscape of a variety of shrubs, trees and flowers. It was really gorgeous.”
Carney traveled to Virginia to visit Lowder in 2012, and learned his health was declining. Lowder did not put a price on his artwork or include it in his estate, Carney said.
“He was good at throwing things away,” he said. “He was very critical about his work an may have thrown away more than he kept.”
Portraits of the late Dwayne Lowder in a book of his artwork titled "I Bet You Wouldn't Give it to me Even if I Asked" captured by colleague Jack Carney. Lowder's artwork is on display at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan until March 8, 2020. (Kendall Warner | Mlive.com) Kendall Warner | MLive.com
There was a market for Lowder’s art in Kalamazoo, Carney said. But he did not find such a favorable market for his work in Virginia, he said.
After Lowder died in 2018, items from his estate were sold. His artwork was not sold as part of that auction due to its size. There was 300 running feet of artwork stored away, Carney said. Anything left on the estate was considered “residue,” so all his work was set to be taken to the dump, he said.
“The Realtor realized that this really looked like good stuff,” Carney said. “He met a faculty member from Radford University and he came over and said, 'This is work by a professional.’”
The work was moved to the nearby Radford University. It did not stay long, because so many paintings were stacked up that they were blocking doors, and the fire marshal said they had to go.
The university considered having a sidewalk sale for the artwork.
"So, again, they were in jeopardy,” Carney said.
He hired someone to transport the artwork back to Michigan, and donated 40 of the paintings to WMU’s art collection, he said.
“We don’t have all the work because there’s just so much of it, but it is a major sampling of this collection that was rescued,” Carney said. “I think his talent was enormous.”
The exhibition includes over 30 pieces on display from Lowder’s attic, said Indra Lacis, director of exhibitions for the Richmond Center for Visual Arts.
The pieces on display range in color and medium. Most of them were unnamed and untitled, so they were arranged in “loose thematic and chronological groupings,” Lacis said.
“This show builds exactly the kinds of relationships that we want," Lacis said. "This exhibition has a lot of personality and genuine closeness to Western and a time gone by.”
The exhibition remains on display until March 8. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 9 p.m. Friday and noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
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