Shane Bowers made a promise to his ailing father that he would finish college.

Displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Bowers and his parents found their way to central Arkansas.

With metastasized stage-four bone cancer, Bowers’ father needed to be near University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences facilities for treatment. Bowers and his mother took care of his father full time.

Bowers was only 14 when his father passed.

“Every single day when I felt those moments of quitting, he kept me going,” Bowers said.

On May 14, Bowers walked across the stage in honor of his father.

A nursing major at first, Bowers felt that being a full-time artist, while also involved in higher education, was important to him, so he changed his degree to a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

Bowers said his dad always supported his art and everything he did. Bowers noted his dad knew he was transgender before anyone else, and his father served as a reminder to be true to himself. Because of this, Bowers uses his art as a way to educate and express his identity.

“Art is a way that I am able to express my advocacy more than just a complete political way of black and white,” he said. “I’m able to reach a broader audience and talk about these issues that we have in our everyday media.”

His thesis project deals with the gender binary, or the classification of sex and gender into two distinct and opposite forms of masculine and feminine. His art expands on having the viewer question what gender binary is and how viewers define gender for themselves as an identity and not a biological sex. Some pieces also deal with the realities of body modification with transgender people.

“Entering college as a queer-identified person, having that adversity, even in the arts, was something to overcome and learn with faculty and learn with my colleagues,” he said. “Transgendered was something different, and people were not out at the time that I came out.”

Bowers said he enjoyed his experience at UALR, especially within his discipline.

“I’ve had faculty and mentors really support the fact that not only I identify this way, but they also support me as an individual and a person, that my identity doesn’t define who I am,” said Bowers. He noted that he was treated equally and respectfully, like another human and individual.

Bowers is also a McNair scholar and won first place at the UALR McNair Research Symposium for arts and humanities for his research titled, “Deconstructing the Gender Binary in Contemporary Art.”

He took this research to the Florida International University McNair Scholars Research Conference and won third place in his division.

The McNair Scholars Program works with undergraduate students who would like to gain experience conducting undergraduate research. At UALR, 25 scholars are supported each year. In their first year, scholars conduct an intensive summer research project with the help of a mentor.

At the end, students complete a paper within their discipline. Bowers’ research was interdisciplinary, using art and philosophy. Students must apply and interview to be considered for the program.

Bowers is thankful for his McNair mentor, Dr. Michael Norton, assistant professor of philosophy.

“He was a really great influence and has supported me 100 percent through McNair and the reason why I am so successful with my research,” Bowers said.

Another mentor who helped Bowers through college is Michael Warrick, professor of art.

“He has really been a main supporter with all the struggles of not only being a young college student and a young art student, but also he’s been a great person in my life through my transition,” he said.

Bowers starts the Master of Fine Arts program at Northern Illinois University in the fall. After completing this degree, he plans to pursue a doctorate in visual theory and will work toward re-writing new bachelor of fine arts curriculum, as well as mentoring students.

Before he leaves for Illinois, Bowers will be visiting Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina from July 8-24. Bowers received a scholarship as a part-time assistant, and he will be studying under the artist Esther Shimazu.

In the photo on the right, student Shane Bowers. Photo by Megan Douglas/UALR Communications