Work in progress - near done in October 
Questioning Gender, experimenting!

THE KIDS PLAY WITHOUT SHOES

been teaching full time. Making art but too exhausted for the parties lately...

 “She Hates the Flourescent Lights”

She hates the night
she hates everybody inside
she won the night
she hates the flourescent lights

Is it pain for a woman like me? 
Is it pain for a woman like me to feel completely?

She’s glamorous 
shes only known in the right light
untangeable
that secret is the way to life

(chorus) 

she’s worked the docks 
she’s  had enough of the hard life 
she knows its rough
she knows shes tough so its alright
shes had enough she wants a touch of the kind life

She hates the lights
she hates the flourescent lights

- The Gallery 

  • Lithograph on Paper
    Open edition 
    Printed at the Graphic Arts Workshop 


Another “She Hates the Flourescent Lights” version. Ballpoint and ink
Mission St Church - Screenprint on Paper
“Free Draw, Free Palestine”   Screenprint, pastel, and ink on paper



Written transcript: 
In white ink: She stares at the abandoned house. “All I would need is some house.” She breathes in. “Something like this.” We are standing on my block. It’s noisy as usual. You can see my cat in the window. I don’t think he sees me. “I wish I were a carpenter,” she says. “Jesus was a carpenter,” I say. 

In red pencil: I teach in West Oakland one day and the kids have no teacher. What do they do? They know it’s fucked. They chant “Free Palestine” and I hope someone frees them too. 

Home table  setup 
punk from the canary island
Thomas in the fog, sketchbook and collage
Transcript : 
Written : The touch of divinity is probably something calming as long as it mostly leaves you alone but that’s just it isn’t it? He stares into the fog and its contemplation seems calm to him but beyond contemplation is realization and fear and those things are held in contemplation. And you contemplate and contemplate. The end you seek is nowhere to be found


On sketch: Wait! .... I’ve seen you before, right? Maybe I’ve run into you at Batcave, or one of Christina’s events? Or Knockout, or Eli’s, or Thrillhouse, or.... 
Thrillhouse records, sketchbook and collage
Walking my neighborhood, going to cat house. Sketchbook collage
Frankie, Lydia and Jett outside Martuni’s, sketchbook collage
Frankie at Doc’s Clock, sketchbook 

Noah and Frank, sketchbook

Printing at the Graphic Arts Workshop - T Shirts for The Gallery, PG&E plant outside
She Cuts You Down, EP by The Gallery, from my “Angels” woodblock series


So many of The Gallery’s lyrics speak to the same abstract spiritualism and anxiety as this piece...  
Me @ Thrillhouse - With The Gallery. Photo by Paige (our dear friend!) 
Cool Girls, sketchbook 
Teaching, sketchbook 
Free form Monoprint
Angels, Mixed Media on Paper, made in Florence, Italy 

Text reads: When I was a boy, the voice of God was constant and unrelenting, at times cruel. His presence in my life was unwanted, and one night I told him this. So now I do not see him and my life is often silent. I see Angels often, but I think they sometimes taunt me. The are a flock of birds without bodies, a dark spot in the middle of the river. I go to church for comfort but they are not there. I sometimes wonder if I am condemned. 
Angels, Mixed Media on Paper, made in Florence, Italy. 

I dug these out last year for an art show at a defunct bathhouse... they hadn’t been seen in a while. 
Love! - Lithograph on Paper
Lake Merrit Men, sketchbook 
Self Portrait, Bay Area, Work in Progress! Large painting, mixed media. 

I need some space to paint! All these weird feelings about the bay area hahaha. 
I started this a while ago and thought it was finished, but it really never is... and it feels a little bare bones. Plus, my hair has grown since then
Noah, sketchbook 
Smoke in the sun, Lithograph and monoprint on paper
Our first show as a band :) I made the flyer 
Untitled lithograph, during a period of time where my tousche was improperly mixed... this was the first post on The Gallery instagram, although it has little to do with the band
Spending time in Bolinas, sketchbook 
It’s Christmas time :) sketchbook 
Screenprinted Patches
Screenprinted Patches
Linger, Lithograph and Screenprint on Paper

“We stayed in bed all day and when it was time to leave, we lingered” 
Handy, Letterpress on Paper. Printed as part of a workshop in the San Francisco Center for the Book. 

While this piece was very well recieved, I often felt as though the definitive nature of the statement seemed to place me in situations where I felt tokenized as a queer artist. I appreciate everyone who resonates with the statement. 
Pride 2023 (fit check)
An inspirational sketch, a resting lesbian -- from an image from the Lesbian Herstory Archives of a group of women building a house
It could have been a beautiful image but it was lost to bad chemistry 
Free draw
The Lovers, candle. Print made on rice paper with lineoleum. 
Excene and the Tower! Free draw
100 Degrees in the Bay, Lithography and Monoprint on Paper 

It really has been hot, that delusional kind of heat. The kind where you swim at a nasty beach ... but at least its empty. 
Halloween as Pete Burns

Pete remains one of my icons of all time, a visionary in terms of gender expression and outlandish behavior. About 6 people understood the costume and it was more people than I expected. 
Mom’s framing of an old piece. I’m a taurus if you didn’t know... 
Jules! My rock in the pandemic <3 sketchbook 
She was a Real Butch Woman  - Lithograph on Paper, printed at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking 
Pandemic forays into ceramics
Pandemic forays into ceramics
Last night before lockdown, 2020. At the Eagles VFW in Seward, Minneapolis 
From the Minneapolis Tretter collection 
From the Minneapolis Tretter Collection 
In the Benchseat of Your Tacoma - Lithograph on Paper
I’m still in Baltimore, handmade book
In the Rain on Bolinas Ridge - Lithograph on Paper, printed at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore
There were no graveyards in that stretch of California - Lithograph on Paper
He always said he was born in Roswell, Mixed Media Painting, made while living in the Copycat building
Who? Ink on Paper
Pioneer ghost, handprinted woodcut on paper
The print setup early in living at the Copycat
Angels, Woodblock monoprints in paper, made in Florence, Italy 


Cass MacgowanArtist & Printmaker
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Cass Macgowan is an artist and printmaker primarily based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their work relies on semi fictional vignettes and largely explores the spiritual nature of queer existence. 

Find me singing in The Gallery -  our music is on all streaming platforms or you can sometimes see us looking gloomy around the bay. 

I am largely interested in the accessibility of art and information. All work, if available, is sliding scale pricing. As a union member and a member of an arts cooperative, I foster the long-standing leftist belief of “ From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs” as I strive for community building and artistic freedom. 

Follow my email newsletter for free on substack in order to keep up with goings-on! 

https://cassmacgowan.substack.com