Karen R. Phinney

Karen began drawing as soon as she could hold a pencil. She always loved paper, pencils and then crayons, coloured pencils, and anything that would make a mark. She drew horses, horses and more horses, and then women and fashion and many other things! Her grandfather was artistic too, he was a painter in addition to being a blacksmith. Karen would use some of his oils to paint while visiting him in Surrey, B.C., as a young woman. She loved oils and then moved on to watercolour following a period of not doing much in the way of art, while she was raising her two children. Eventually, though, while living in Fredericton, she began to go to the N.B. Craft School for drawing classes with Brigid Toole, a well-known local artist and teacher. She learned a lot by doing life drawing for about three years, returning to learn with the eager young people at the school. Watercolour became the medium of choice, with a few oils along the way. She did several courses with local artists in Fredericton.

In 1995, Karen relocated to Halifax, where she really began to get into showing her work. She had several successful shows, and was seen at art & jules, a gallery in Halifax on Gottingen Street, the Art Pieces Gallery in Bedford, as well as at the Art Sales and Rental shop at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. She has contributed art to auctions for Phoenix House and other charities. Karen also worked with the young people at Phoenix for five years, doing art related things with them. She is a member of the art coop Art 1274 Hollis. Karen’s work can now be seen at Swoon Gallery on Hammonds Plains Road.

Karen recently sent work to Uruguay, and has been part of an international show from here that involves 14 artists. The show in Montevideo was supported by the Canadian and Uruguayan embassies. It was exciting to be part of something Canadian in a far away city, and to connect with other people there. “Art is about connection”, Karen believes, a dialogue with the viewer. It is finding joy in the making of the art, and hoping that joy translates for the observer. “It is when that happens, that I find the most satisfaction in making the art.”