Featured Artist: Karen Walter

Karen Walter is the only abstract artist currently showing at studio21south.  We are lucky to be showing an impressive installation of 150 of Karen’s small works on paper in "Black and White (More or Less)"

Karen lives in Boston where she works in paper conservation at Harvard, but she comes to the Berkshires to draw at North Adams' Natural Bridge State Park, whose rock formations and rushing water influence her multi-layered abstractions.

Karen constantly experiments with new media and compositions.  Her playful approach defines her style and makes each one of her pieces truly singular.  Layers of mediums (which may include watercolor, egg tempera, graphite, and charcoal), as well as her subtle use of color, lend depth and mystery to her art.

It took two days for Karen to assemble her installation in the gallery, composing it so that the individual works of art are also striking altogether.  The pleasure of Karen's work really comes alive by spending some time with it, and following the connecting thread that leads from one piece to the next, and back again to nature.

Views of an installation

We had a great time this week hosting Karen Walter as she installed 150 (that's right, one-hundred-and-fifty) fantastic drawings for "Black and White (more or less)" opening on 7.26.12.  Each drawing has it's own sense of power, but watching them all come together on the art gallery walls was really something special. A Boston-based artist, her abstract drawings are largely based on her observations of the tidepools and rock formations at Natural Bridge in North Adams.

Closeup of "Nature, Unbounded"

The finished installation in the gallery