Nicola Gordon Bowe

Early life and education

Bowe was born in 1948 in Stafford, England to London councillor Richard Gordon and headmistress Elizabeth Smedley and raised in St Albans, Hertfordshire. She attended St Albans High School for Girls and completed her A levels at an English school in Rome, Italy. Inspired by her Irish roots in Clonmel on her paternal side, she decided to go to university in Ireland.

Career During her 30-plus year career, Bowe was a lecturer in the history of design at the Faculty of the School Visual Culture, National College of Art and Design in Dublin. She was a founding director of the master's course in Design History and Applied Arts.

Bowe wrote and lectured extensively on the early 20th century Arts and Crafts Movement, the Celtic Revival, and the resurgence of stained glass as an art form.

Bowe also devoted many years to investigating the life and art of Wilhelmina Geddes, a little known, Ulster-born stained glass artist. "Geddes who, like Harry Clarke, had been admired in life but largely forgotten in death".

Death Bowe died unexpectedly on 4 January 2018 in Dublin, Ireland after a short illness.

Selected publications