Gwen O'Dowd began exhibiting in the mid 1980s. Her formal concerns have always been rooted deeply in the tradition of landscape painting. Yet, the specific locales from which she has drawn inspiration, the modes of addressing them, and the metaphoric import of the resulting series of paintings, have varied considerably over the years.
Among the aspects of the landscapes O'Dowd has registered over the past decade are the ecological devastation of the Gulf War, the epic grandeur of the Grand Canyon and, more recently, the mythically sexualised landscape of coastal Ireland.

Notable among her early solo exhibitions were shows at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin in 1984 and at the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny in 1989. She has since exhibited regulaly in Ireland and Britain, and also in continental Europe and North America.

Some important group exhibitions in which she participated in recent years were: Poetic Land - Political Landscape, which toured Britain, and Re-Dressing Cathleen: contemporary Works from Irish Women Artists and Eire Land, both at the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College in 1997 and 2003 respectively. O'Dowd is represented in the collections of the Arts Council of Ireland and Northern Ireland, AIB Bank and the Irish Museum of Modern Art and many other Corporate collections, as well as in various Private collections in Ireland, USA, Europe and Japan.