Artistic HistoryKaren has a passion for pursuing creativity in all aspects of her life. She has been taking art classes and workshops since 1968 beginning at the Carmel School in Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA and then Callanwolde Fine Art Center in Atlanta studying ceramics. She even squeezed in learning to batik while living on the island of St. Vincent in the West Indies. She then became interested in fiber arts and was accepted into the Piedmont Art Fair in 1975 with woven fiber sculptures and baskets. She has a minor in Art from Western Carolina University concentrating on weaving. She practiced the craft of weaving rugs for 10 years, taking after her Scandinavian grandmother’s family whose looms are now in the American Swedish Institute in Mpls. MN. While working on her master’s degree at Western Carolina University she took up the art of papermaking to keep her creative juices flowing. Her next artistic exploration was in applying paint in textural layers, synthesizing and adapting lessons learned from her many sources. The outcomes on her canvas and paper can evoke impressions of what lies beneath the surface.
Throughout her years of creating Karen has displayed and sold baskets, rugs, woven shawls, and mixed media works in shops and galleries in Georgia, South and North Carolina. She has won many awards in art exhibits and has been published three times in "Somerset Studio" an international paper arts magazine and was featured in” Rapid River Arts” and “Asheville Made” magazine. She celebrates the art of imperfection that is the result of layering paint to achieve a balance of color and texture. Being true to intuitive process, her canvas rarely ends up where it started. Most of her work explores the natural world inspired by her lifelong enjoyment of the outdoors including water sports, hiking and gardening. She awaits joyous surprises while working with materials that awaken and excite her creative spirit. She has lived in Black Mountain, NC with her husband Douglas since 1997 and actively involved in the Swannanoa Valley Fine Arts League, the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, and Arrowhead Artists and Artisans in Old Fort, NC. Published in Asheville Made Magazine October 2020
"I celebrate the art of imperfection that is the result of layering paint to achieve a balance of color and texture. My canvas rarely ends up where it started." 
Waiting for Answers 16x20
Like Odilon Redon “I await joyous surprises while working, an awakening of the materials 
Portion of
"Dreaming of a Summer's Day"
SOLD
Reflections of a Summer's Day
SOLD
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As a mixed-media artist using paint, collage and found objects, I like to explore dimensions of creativity in an intuitive way, giving context to universal concepts, archetypes and cultural traditions. Juried Shows and Awards
Art in Bloom Gallery Shows
2014 Black Mountain Center for the Arts "Art in Bloom" Gallery Show SOLD
2016 Black Mountain Center for the Arts "Art in Bloom" Gallery Show SOLD
 Best of 2022
by Karen K. Paquette
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Copyright 2013. Karen Paquette. All rights reserved.