Waking Earth

Andrea Kowch looks back on her career as she releases a new art book about her fascinating paintings.

- BY MICHAEL CLAWSON

Andrea's Kowch paintings have been compared favorably to the work of Andrew Wyeth, the American master who explored rural settings and the people who were drawn to the quiet edges of nature. Kowch shares his interests and yet takes it further by pushing into fantasy, surrealism and allegory. Her works have a reverent kind of magic that feels real and yet exists within another plane of being.

These themes have been celebrated in her work and studio for nearly two decades, and now in her new book, Across a Rural Skyline: The Art of Andrea Kowch, available through RJD Gallery in Romeo, Michigan. Two versions of the book—a standard edition and also a limited first-edition, hand-signed version in a slipcase—will go on sale on August 1. (Full disclosure: I wrote an essay for the book.)

1 Andrea Kowch with her new book, Across a Rural Skyline: The Art of Andrea Kowch.

2 Nightfall, 2025, acrylic, 10 x 10 in.

Kowch spoke to us about the book, her career and her artwork. Enjoy.

The process of making a book requires reflection of your career and your past work. Is this something you enjoy doing? What did you discover about your earlier career as you looked back on it?