About

Old and Worn, Still Works

Personalizing old busted stuff

Karen is a Seattle native. She has been drawing, painting, and taking photos since childhood. After studying painting and design at Shoreline Community College and the University of Washington, she left college to get married, do family stuff and get a real job. She returned to school and eventually earned a BFA in painting from the UW. She continued her primary career in public service while doing portraits, illustration and photography on the side. Now retired, she and her husband (a photographer) live in Mountlake Terrace where she now takes pictures and paints at will.

Statement:

“I look at commonplace things and show how singular and fascinating they can be. I have an affinity for abandoned and failed enterprises, entities that have endured hard use and the passage of time. Found objects, worn-out and discarded items and damaged, battered stuff with its own history are a lot more interesting than shiny new things.

Creatures that we think of as commonplace and unworthy of respect deserve my attention. I want to portray them as unique and valued.

Maybe it’s age, maybe coronavirus isolation, but I’m concentrating more and more on small objects, fleeting moments and limited horizons, from bugs in the garden to broken boats abandoned on the beach. I make pictures that capture a thing or place in the process of becoming something more.”