Never Retallack  | Entertainment Editor

Abi Lowther’s love for art was ignited as a first-year in high school when she took an introduction to drawing class and realized that she had a natural talent. From there, she started to pursue art more seriously; as a sophomore at Western, she is currently majoring in Art and Design.

The main mediums she uses are drawing and painting, and recently she has started practicing stick and poke tattoos. Her art style is not too focused on one aspect; Lowther says that she gets a lot of her inspiration from the music that she listens to, elaborating that, “In my head when I’m listening I can imagine something more organic, a lot of my bigger paintings will have trees and mushrooms and have a lot of color and be kind of funky.”

Lowther is mainly self-taught; she describes the art degree as, “…mainly a way for me to find my style and shape it while learning things.” But she says she hasn’t gotten there yet, so most of the time she spends working on art is in her free time.

Depending on what piece she is working on, a small drawing might take around a day, while a painting on a larger canvas usually takes up to a month. Lowther is also an avid doodler, and even uses it to aid her learning; in Art History she will sketch out whatever painting they’re looking at in the margins.

While painting and drawing are forms that Lowther loves to practice, her dream for a future career is actually in tattooing. She purchased a stick and poke kit and practiced on herself; her first piece she initially thought was a mess, but now when she looks at it she loves it. Lowther, currently more confident in her stick and poking skills, often gives her friends free tattoos, grateful for a willing canvas.

Her future plans entail moving to Portland — because of the large tattooing scene — hopefully obtaining an apprenticeship under a wise tattoo artist and also entering tattooing school. 

For Lowther, there is no other field she could be in; being creative through art is what makes her thrive and she can’t imagine doing anything else.

Lowther said that art is a process, and for those who are interested they must, “learn to like (their) mistakes … and practice, practice helps a lot.”

For those who want to check out Lowther’s art, she has an instagram page called, @killbillvoltree, where she posts some of her pieces. Lowther also does commission work. People can directly message her via Instagram if interested in learning more.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo by Ashlynn Norton