Bio of an Artist

Artist: KAREN BIGELOW

Karen’s transparent acrylic and watercolours are a celebration of life. Her silverpoint is a celebration of freedom and intrigue. She strives to capture the essence of the land, its beauty, grace and power. From wilderness to rural landscapes, wildflowers to garden splendour, architecture to still-life, people in motion to portraits, a sense of harmony and balance is transformed into wonder.

Born in rural Ontario, Karen enjoyed a career as a Health Information Professional. Her career took a detour and she plunged into the introduction, development, and implementation of computer systems in HealthCare in North America. She is a Practitioner in CranioSacral Therapy and Therapeutic Touch. Her passion for life, exploration and discovery has returned her to creating art, never abandoned but often on the backburner during her career. To refuel her body, mind and spirit, Karen has always escaped, with or without a canoe, into her much-loved Canadian wilderness. When not in the outdoors, she is in her studio creating.
or spending February in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico,

Karen’s commissions over the years have been from private patrons.

Karen accepted Station Gallery, Whitby’s invitation March 2008 to paint for their “Passion for Art” fundraiser. Karen was also featured on Roger’s TV Cable 10–Durham Region. She contributes to help support and raise awareness of art.

December 2008, TSH Grace Campus, accepted Karen for her first Solo Art Exhibition.

January 2009, Karen accepted The Crowne Gallery, Minden’s invitation to “push-the-edge” and create a “landscape in motion” in an ancient and almost forgotten media–silverpoint. Her silverpoint was on displayed in the “Futurist Landscape Show, Drawing in Silverpoint,” in The Crowne Gallery, Minden, ON February 20 to June 30, 2009.

In March 2009, Karen’s artwork supported Three Rivers Kids Foundation Fundraiser as a celebration of life and helped to send eight children from Guyana to India for open-heart surgery.

OCAD organizers for “Whodunit” Mystery Fundraiser invited Karen to participate. She created silverpoint artwork for this special exhibition November 18 to 21, 2009.

October 2009 PineRidge Arts Council, Ajax selected her silverpoint “Mist Rising” for their 11th Annual Juried Art Exhibition October 30 to November 29.

November 2009 Station Gallery, Whitby selected her silverpoint “Dare to EXceL” into their Annual Juried Art Exhibition December 12 to January 3, 2010.

December 2009, her silverpoint “Each Stroke…a Ripple” and watercolour “WaterPower” was exhibited at the members show in Agnes Jamieson Gallery Minden, ON December 3 - January 16, 2010.

January 2010, her silverpoint “White Light on Highland Home Range” and acrylic on Baltic birch panel “Spirit of Home: Above the TreeLine” exhibited at Rails End Gallery Haliburton, ON January 23 to February 20, 2010

“Wilderness Moments in Silverpoint” exhibitioned at The Crowne Gallery, Minden, ON from February 2010-March 2011

In May 2010, Karen was invited by the Ontario Regiment Association, in conjunction with Station Gallery, Whitby ON to create an art form in acrylic on a standard issue military helmet. Her first artform on a 3D platform… “A Tribute to Our Troops” with a poem “The Poppy Grows” in response to “Tribute to Our Troops: Past, Present, Future” fundraiser.

June 2010 “Badlands of Alberta” silverpoint was selected by jury for the national “Canadian Landscape” Exhibition at Agnes Jamieson Gallery, Minden ON July 27 – September 11, 2010.

October 2010 PineRidge Arts Council, Ajax selected her silverpoint “Each Stroke…a Ripple” for their 12th Annual Juried Art Exhibition October 29 to November 28.

November 2010, Karen created her first pastel artwork series “Splashes of Colour” in Pastel “Granary in SpringTime, …WinterTime, …FallTime, …SummerTime” in response to Cultural Expressions Art Gallery, Pickering Village invitation to participate in “Colour of Life” Exhibition November 28 – December 15, 2010

December 2010, her silverpoint “White Light on Highland Home Range” and acrylic on Baltic birch panel “Spirit of Home: Above the TreeLine” exhibited at Agnes Jamieson Gallery Minden, ON November 25 to December 2010.

Her artwork decorated the walls of Furniture Forum, Ontario from June 2008 to December 2010.

She is a member of Station Gallery, Whitby, Agnes Jamieson Gallery, Minden, PineRidge Arts Council (PRAC), Rails End Gallery and Art Centre, Haliburton, and is an associate member, Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour.

Cultural Expressions Art Gallery, Old Pickering Village, Ajax, Ontario has a selection of her artwork.
To share some of her favourite acrylic and watercolour originals, Karen has embarked on producing Limited Edition Reproductions, using archival gicleé inks on the finest watercolour paper in the world.

View her artwork from a distance. See the light, feel the wind, connect with the rhythm. Move closer and explore the intricacies waiting.


All artwork images and writing in this website is copyright Karen Bigelow June 2011
Do not reproduce without permission