Joseph Randolph Bowers PhD

Warm welcome! Here you will find the artist's curated Gallery. Below the Collection find the Artist’s Statement, Artistic Periods, Selected Past Works, Biography, and Publications.

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Artist Statement

Welcome, we are Joseph Randolph Bowers, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and based in Armidale, NSW, Australia, and we honour our Mi’kmaq, French, and Irish heritage with a documented family history back to 1650. Our nicknames including 'Kisiku Sa'qawei Paqt'ism' and 'Jorandi' or just call us Jo.

Our work embodies contemporary expressionism, impressionist abstract and is informed by a mysticism of nature, family and inspired by therapy. The focus is on psychodynamic experience and emotional resonance.

We love exploring ancient cultural wisdom so are drawn to Mi’kmaq rock art and Celtic themes. Sacred stories and narrative healing in art reflect deep human ecology and transformative raw energy.

We work with acrylics, oils, and mixed media on canvas, wooden boards, and panels. Our techniques include expressive brushwork, pallet knife and various instruments to create textures, blending on the pallet or directly on the canvas.

Our ceramic work explores sitting and hanging sculptural forms, sculptured vases, fine art plates and bowls. We work in sizes enjoyed in family homes and offices, on coffee and boardroom tables, and hanging on walls. Our sense of fine art ceramics relies on glaze and oxidised firing with organic slips, oxides and washes. Ceramics and paintings often share relationships in the creative process.

As an intuitive empath our early life was drawn to nature, social connections and solitude. Empathy with suffering led us into the healing arts. As a therapist-sage we’ve had the honour of working closely with people with profound disabilities and their families. Holding a nurturing space for others has inspired our vision of connectedness.

Mysticism in colour and texture actively engages emotionally and psychically to awaken storytelling - this is personal and vital. Family and culture are so important to us and draw us toward values that guide creativity in life, art, poetry, music, and sculpture.

We studied music for fifteen years focused on guitar and voice, attending Music and Art History at Dalhousie University, then a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in Spirituality and Philosophy from Mount St. Vincent University. We attained a Master’s in Education Counselling from Acadia University, a PhD in Health Counselling from the University of New England in Australia, and various certifications in psychotherapy and higher education.

Our postdoctoral work includes a Doctor of Divinity in Ceramic Arts resulting in the published book, ‘Clay Art Therapy and Spirituality.’ We received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity in Franciscan and Earth-based Spirituality Studies. We love earth-based cultures and cosmologies that re-connect modern people in kinship.

Works of Art can often take on iconic significance as they embody and express the sacred realms. This level of awareness is expressed, articulated, and celebrated by our Custodian-Collectors who take on Sacred Curatorial Stewardship. That said, the interpretation of our artwork is up the beholder and whether sacred or mundane, complex or simple, everyone has a different take. As artists we celebrate this ambiguity as this provides rich exploration and artistic freedom.

We have published numerous books in culture, spirituality, and sexuality studies and over 250 scholarly works. We’ve taught and served for about two decades at various universities in Australia, Hong Kong, and Canada. Our scholarship like our art focuses on deepening of relationships and healing.

We currently serve as Honorary Member of the Australian Counselling Association, Fellow of the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine, and as a Member of the Australian Ceramics Association. We are Director and Senior Clinical Counsellor with Ability Therapy Specialists Pty Ltd, and with Dwayne Wannamarra Andrew Kennedy PhD, we co-founded Oz FineArt during 2025.

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Artistic Periods

Our philosophy of art draws from natural relationships, expressing potency, power, mystery, and spirituality. Art is created through curiosity, discovery, and bold use of colour, texture, and form.

We are inspired by medieval earth-based spirituality, Indigenous and minority cosmologies. We love earth-based perspectives as these embody place, sacred traditions, and a mysticism grounded in personal experience.

We use the language of contemporary post-structural and post-colonial values, and in this sense we are a bit 'woke.' Our practice seeks to reshape our connection with creation and one another. We are deeply conservative in this sense. Family is everything and not as a side-line to economics and commerce.

Our work in word-craft and art-creation critiques and informs lived experiences, emphasising immediacy. We are found at the experiential moment of engagement with art.

Central to our practice are marginal voices that regenerate identity, meaning, and spirituality. Our work offers insights into human ecology and a vision for a future where people can live fully and powerfully.

Works from the 1990s expressed abstract impressionism on various surfaces including furniture. Early requests to paint 18th and 19th century cabinets later sold for significant amounts. Early painted furniture put meaningful stories onto functional but profoundly decorative surfaces adding value to interiors. We were excited to see our art at the centre of family life. Requests for interior wall art and murals led to painting several apartments in Toronto. These projects provided insights into the psychology of decorative art.

From 1998, paintings expressed doctoral reflections on minority experiences, coming of age, and identity awakening. From 2002 to 2010, paintings progressed into Mi’kmaq First Nation themes. We did a series reflecting abstract narratives on ecological concerns, marginalisation, and political issues.

After 2012, we focused on counselling services and directing a therapy company. From 2020, we revisited ceramic arts with emphasis on wheel throwing. This led to post-doctoral studies focused on the history and cultural significance of the bowl as expressing feminine, familial and ecological values. We completed a Doctor of Divinity in Ceramics that led to publication of a peer reviewed book inclusive of photographs from studio practice.

From 2024, a series of narrative florals burst onto canvas while recovering from burn out. The series was motivated by the healing power of a feminine response to increasingly fractured current affairs. We found 'expressionism' in full force - raw colour and bold brush strokes, thick use of paint, and impressionist abstract compositions. We were overwhelmed by the raw emotional power of art. This time woke us up and inspired Oz FineArt.

We returned to why we started our long career - to a core identity as artist-healer.

This period opened up the energy to create Oz FineArt with the iconic works you find at this site and a more focused celebration of figurative elements and sacred themes.

After years of experience as a therapist and artist we are increasingly moved by the power of psychodynamic colour, texture, and form in fine art.

Our art expresses the prophetic purpose of shifting out of complacency and into action through relationships of trust and value. Trust is central and relies on personal experience and direct engagement. The artist with the process. The viewer with the painting or sculpture. Trust is earned by growing in self-awareness.

People can question theory and concepts, but they cannot call into question a lived knowing inside the body and heart. The experience of art as change and growth, and as sacred Medicine and Dreaming are very real - you know this in your body, heart and soul.

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Artist Portfolio

Exhibition 'Place: Three Artists, Two Countries, One Heart' Cape Breton University Art Gallery, 2010

Exhibition 'Place: Three Artists, Two Countries, One Heart' Cape Breton University Art Gallery, 2010

Eagle Medicine, 60 x 50 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008

Eagle Medicine, 60 x 50 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008

Transgenerational Healing, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008

Transgenerational Healing, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008

Hermitage Sunset, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Hermitage Sunset, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Hummingbird, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Hummingbird, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Learning to Dream, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Learning to Dream, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Mi'kmaq Six Worlds, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Mi'kmaq Six Worlds, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Mother Tree, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Mother Tree, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

North Atlantic, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

North Atlantic, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Teepee in the Distance, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Teepee in the Distance, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Google Earth, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas, 2009

Google Earth, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas, 2009

Initiation Cave, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Initiation Cave, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Six Worlds Journey, 50 x60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Six Worlds Journey, 50 x60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Seven Stars, Four Colours, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008

Seven Stars, Four Colours, 100 x 80 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2008

Two Spirit Old Ones, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Two Spirit Old Ones, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Wigwam, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Wigwam, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2006

Prayers of Healing, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Prayers of Healing, 50 x 60 cm, Acrylic on Canvas, 2007

Biography

Jorandi Kisiku Sa'qawei Paqt'ism Joseph Randolph Bowers PhD, was born in 1966 in Halifax NS Canada, and is based in Armidale NSW Australia. They studied percussion, guitar, and voice for over twelve years. From age 12, Jorandi began composing, performing and conducting choirs and ensembles. They later performed more widely and during 1991 produced an album in one of the first 24-bit digital studios in Toronto. ‘Introspection’ featured original compositions with acoustic voice and guitar.

Visual art practice began during school years with interests in ceramics and included a geometric plate series and large multimedia installations. From 1986 they studied Art History and Music at Dalhousie University, later moving to Mount Saint Vincent University to complete a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in Spirituality and Philosophy.

From 1990, Jorandi received commissions to paint maritime landscapes on sideboards, cabinets, and floral motifs on interior walls. From 1994, while completing a Masters in Counselling at Acadia University, Jorandi worked with requests to paint impressionist abstract landscapes on antique painted furniture.

From 1998, while completing a PhD Teaching and Research Scholarship in Health Counselling at the University of New England in Australia, Jorandi painted impressionist abstracts on canvas in a series of self-reflective sociopolitical works. This period led to another series focused on minority LGBTI+, Two Spirit and Mi’kmaq identity.

During 2010, while teaching at Cape Breton University in Canada, Jorandi curated a show hosted by the Cape Breton University Art Gallery entitled, ‘Three Artists, Two Countries, One Heart.’ The show combined works with Australian Aboriginal artists Dr Dwayne Wannamarra Kennedy, and Elder Grace Kennedy. Around this time works were acquired by Cape Breton University and the University of New England AU.

Senior lecturer, specialist therapist, and company director roles characterise the next decade when art practice took on a more personal and therapeutic tone. This period demonstrates commitment and longevity in service and creativity.

Ceramic art study and wheel throwing practice resurfaced during 2020. Jorandi created a ceramic arts studio, acquired a kiln, and by 2024 produced a body of work. They completed a Doctor of Divinity in Ceramic Arts and the book 'Clay Art Therapy and Spirituality' soon followed.

From 2024, Jorandi produced a floral series on canvas and began exploring abstract figurative work, birds and other subjects. During 2025, Dr Bowers co-founded Oz FineArt.

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Selected Books, Publications, Curation

Bowers, J.K.J.R. and Kennedy D.W.A. (2025) Oz FineArt Collector’s Prospectus Launch Edition 2025: Narrative Art, Cultural Legacy, Contemporary Practice, Ability Therapy Specialists Pty Ltd, Armidale NSW. ISBN 978-1-925034-24-0.

Bowers, J.R. (2023) Clay Art Therapy and Spirituality, St Clare Cottage Press, Armidale NSW.

Bowers, J.R. (2023) Western Desert, Ability Therapy Specialists Pty Ltd, Armidale NSW.

Bowers J.R. (2023) Sacred Teachings from the Mi’kmaq Medicine Lodge, 2nd Edition, St Clare Press, Armidale, NSW.

Bowers J.R. (2020) Stardust Awakens: From Social Isolation to Finding Your Purpose and Destiny, Ability Therapy Specialists Pty Ltd, Armidale NSW.

Bowers J.R. (2019) Mi’kmaq Puoinaq Two Spirit Medicine: Sexuality and Gender Variance, Spirituality and Culture, Ability Therapy Specialists Pty Ltd, Armidale.

Bowers J.R. (2019) Solitude Awakens: The Heart Forest Mountain Way, Ability Therapy Specialists Pty Ltd, Armidale.

Bowers R. (2013) Sacred teachings from the medicine lodge, Earth Rattle Publishing, Armidale.

Bowers R. (2013) On the threshold: Personal transformation and spiritual awakening – A primer on the spiritual life with activities, Earth Rattle Publishing, Armidale.

Bowers R., (2010) ‘PLACE: Beyond an Indigenous critical analysis of fine art practice, discourse and culture and the contested nature of minority identity in the mainstream – Articulating an Indigenous aesthetic,’ A public exhibition hosted by Art Gallery Cape Breton University 8 January – 28 February 2010. Essay sponsored and published by Cape Breton University Art Gallery, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.

‘PLACE: Three Artists. Two Countries. One Heart. An exhibition of Australian and Canadian Indigenous Visual Art,’ Cape Breton University Art Gallery, 8 January to 28 February 2010

Bowers R. (2010) Identity, prejudice, and healing in Aboriginal circles: Models of identity, embodiment, and ecology of place as traditional medicine for education and counselling – A Mi’kmaq First Nation perspective, AlterNative – International Journal of Indigenous Studies, 6(3), 203-221.

Bowers R. (2010) A Mi’kmaq First Nation cosmology: Investigating the practice of contemporary Aboriginal traditional medicine in dialogue with counselling – Toward an Indigenous therapeutics, Asian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 1(2), 111-124.

Bowers R. (2008) Counsellor education as humanist colonialism: Seeking post-colonial approaches to educating counsellors by exploring pathways to an Indigenous aesthetic, Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 37, 71-79

Bowers R. (2007) Diversity in creation: Identity, race, sexuality and indigenous creativity, A paper presented for the Seventh International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, 3-6 July 2007, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Bowers R. (2007) ‘The Reconnection Series: A reflective psychotherapeutic, post-modern, post-colonial, and meta-cognitive analysis of dream-images in Aboriginal post-trauma recovery - Examining a poetics of displacement, global migration, identity, and ecologies of place.’ A production of twenty five paintings, acrylic on stretched canvas, reflecting on Indigenous Canadian heritage while living in Australia.

Bowers R. (2007) Teaching practice in a Diploma of Aboriginal Family and Community Counselling: Family violence intervention, and substance abuse counselling, using culturally grounded methods, combining art therapy, creative ceremonial and therapeutic practice, music therapy, and transpersonal psychotherapy,’ A project engaging post-colonial applied methods from 2003-2007.

Bowers R. (2005) Shieldwolf and the shadow: Entering the place of transformation, Special Issue of the Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, Vol 34, 79-85.

Bowers R. (2005) Our stories, our medicine – Exploring holistic therapy integrating body-wellness, mindfulness, and spirituality: An Indigenous perspective on healing, change, and counselling, and the social and political contexts of an emerging discipline, Counselling Australia, 4(4), 114-117.

Bowers R. (2003) Queer Space: Empowering realisations of sacred sexuality, In Whitman J. and Boyd C., The therapist’s notebook for lesbian, gay and bisexual clients: Homework, handouts, and activities for use in psychotherapy, Haworth Press, NY.

Collections

  • University of New England, Australia
  • University of Cape Breton Art Gallery, Canada

Scholarly CV available upon request.

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