Karen’s ties to the prairies of southern Alberta go back four generations, on her mother’s side, to the 1880’s. On her husband’s side; his mother’s and father’s family’s farming histories goes back to a similar time period.

A strong influence on Karen’s interest in the historic, cultural landscape was oral storytelling. Both her mother and mother-in-law are and were family historians. They shared with her, their family experience with the land, the hardships and triumphs, and the amusing, entertaining recounts of everyday people trying to make a living off the land. Her paintings deal with the love of the land and the enthusiastic effort of the generational toil of many farm pioneer families, including her own. Her paintings speak of the relevance and symbolism of man’s historic relationship with the land.

Karen resides in Lethbridge, Alberta. “She has an extensive and varied arts background as a painter, art teacher, art juror, and administrator.” (Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Program, 10th Anniversary Exhibition, 1996, postcard produced by the Prairie Art Gallery, Grande Prairie, Alberta)

In 1980 she began her full time professional artist practice.