[9] Cowan travelled to London in 1901, set up a studio in Grosvenor Street, and met important artists such as Holman Hunt, who visited her.

[9] In Australia, two of her "best friends" were Lord Hampden, the Governor, and George Reid, the Prime Minister, who Cowan described as "not imbued with this local distrust in women's work".

[13] In 1902, Cowan's name appeared in a list that included Nellie Melba, Ada Crossley, Rosa Campbell Praed, Kathleen Mannington Caffyn, Louise Mack, Mary Gaunt and Ellis Rowan in an illustrated article entitled "Notable Australian Women".

It was "a monument to Miss Pearson, the Red Cross nurse who founded the first private hospital in London" and was erected in the cemetery of San Miniato al Monte.

[8] She was invited to submit a maquette for the proposed sculptural groups to be erected on the Queen Victoria Building but her design of "three draped female figures with coat of arms", a work described as "competent if conventional"[6] was not successful, and the commission was given to William Priestly MacIntosh.

[17] After her return to Sydney in 1913, Cowan worked on commissions for various organisations such as the Government of New South Wales, the Chamber of Manufacturers and a small bust of Dr.