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Karen Phillips~Curran
Bear River, Nova Scotia
I’m a visual artist. I’ve made a life of creating artwork for walls, for the stage, for museums and for you! I’m a realist of a sort. Peace is my aim.
Message
Karen Phillips~Curran
Artist
541 Riverview Road
Bear River, Nova Scotia
Karen is a realist of a sort. A watercolourist at heart, in her lifelong dedication to her art, has extended her facility to several other mediums. Painting for fifty years now, her work focuses upon capturing those moments where we brush up against time. Working in series, she explores sun-drenched architecturals, both local and far away, contemplative landscapes or images of placid watersides, undulating keyboards and alternative photography round out the mix.
From 1987 to the 2015-16 season, Karen painted both the English and French theatre sets, at our National Arts Center in Ottawa. There, she created hard sets, floors, and canvas backdrops of many sizes and styles, making use of a wide variety of faux theatrical techniques.
She has also helped to create new exhibits in venues like the Museums of Nature and Civilization, as well as for the Museum of Federation, and the National Gallery. She has had an opportunity to work with many of the top set designers in Canadian theater, museum display and television. As a direct result of this experience, her own work has taken on a monumental scale.
There is a sense of pause in her work.
Born in Canada, her work is collected at home, the United States, Bermuda and Europe. She can be reached at her Bear River Studio [email protected].
SAMPLE EXHIBITIONS AND PRODUCTIONS PAINTED
some PRODUCTIONS PAINTED
Mother Courage
A Christmas Carol
Falstaff
The Snow Show
the Orchard
Hamlet
Macbeth
Way of the World
The Changeling
Hard Times
The Play is the Thing
Quand Marie
An Enemy of the People
The Velvet Devil
Vinci
School For Wives
Mary’s Wedding
Clout
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Alls Well that Ends Well
The Secret Garden
12 Hommes Coulere
Travels with My Aunt
The Mikado
Claptrap
Cabaret des Mots
Le Dernier Ete
Vigil
and many more
TV SETS
CJOH News Set
Noddy
Rage against Racism
Rogers Cable TV
MUSEUM WORK
Museum of Civilization
Museum of Science and Technology
Museum of Nature
Museum of Federation
National Gallery of Canada
SAMPLE SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS
“Island of My Eye” 25 year retrospective Bermuda Society of the Arts City Hall Hamilton Bermuda
“Sunday Walls”, Bermuda Society of the Arts, Hamilton Bermuda
“Icons - Stones” Coldwater Gallery, Coldwater, Ontario
“Walls & Windows From Away”, Tay River Gallery, Perth On
“Shadows and Shapes” BSoA, Hamilton, Bermuda
“Beauty And The Beast”, Ferrytale Studio, On.
“Larger Than Life”, Gallery 245, Toronto, On.
SAMPLE GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Toronto Outdoor Exhibition, Nathan Philips Square, Toronto, 2009,10
Perth Autumn Studio Tour, guest, 2007, 2009, 2014
“Crescendo”, Tay River Gallery, Perth, Ont.2006
“Mayor’s Festival”, Ottawa, Ontario, Juried, 2005
“200 Years of Painting in Bermuda”, Bermuda National Gallery, Bermuda 2005 (curated)
SAMPLE COLLECTIONS; PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
Masterworks Foundation, Bermuda
Bank of Bermuda
Bank of Butterfield, Bermuda
Sun Bank, USA
Wilfred Laurier University
Cornwall Art Gallery
Red River Community College
White Mountain Academy of the Arts
College of the North Atlantic
Excalibur Schools
Pratt and Murray Realtor
Briarcrest Schools
University of Windsor
Southampton Princess Hotel, Bermuda
Hamilton Princess Hotel, Bermuda
John White Advertising, Bermuda
WP Stevens Ltd, Bermuda
GTE Insurance, Bermuda
PUBLICATIONS
“A Somerset Afternoon”, serigraph, 1997
Exhibition poster; Windjammer Gallery 1993
Humanist in Canada Magazine 1983-87 4 issues per year
48 Giclee prints 2006
cards
WEB SITE https://www.phillipscurran.ca/
Statement
Mixed media
Windswept fields, summer rains, cloudless days, ripening wheat, the sun, the shade, and the forms of trees close by or distant, a few of my favourite things. The lands we live in, and near, are part of us. I represent the land around us in an expressive, gestural fashion. Dense colour and vibrant hues render the verdant, ever changing landscape we call home. This series, expresses the sentimental values of our environment. Works on canvas, paper and board, they reveal themselves in many forms, large and small, thin, wide, tall...
Undulating Keys
Jazz was the inspiration for my first "Undulating Keys," commissioned by the National Arts Centre, in 2010, to accompany Ruth Abernathy's bronze sculpture of Oscar Peterson. Composed of many pieces, large and small, the work snakes and swirls. As the keys move in a playful dance full of rhythm and vitality, they create a song picture of striking monumentality, and speak of the power of music to engage us.
Riverstones
Water. The stuff of life.
These paintings are a continuation of my lifelong study of water, and the stones beneath its surface.
Here, I am intent upon relatively calm water's surface. Surface reflections combine with shaded areas to reveal what is below. Deep, rich colours complement gentle rhythmic undulations. Contrast creates heat. Contemplation and simplification resolve the mystery of the surface.
The accumulation of water washed stones tells us of time and the irrefutable strength and power of stones.
These basic elements struggle to live in harmony, soothing, rubbing and, to us, timeless. They share a dimension. They seem immortal, yet, each stone’s individuality can be examined. Who has not felt compelled to pick up and examine a washed stone? The water laughs, menaces, pleads, caresses and more. It can entice us to fall under its hypnotic spell. We fall into it. We are lulled.
We can dream our dreams.
Watercolours
The play of light and of the workings of time on our buildings has always fascinated me. The colours and light of maritime or southern climes are particularly useful. Full sun and weather tells on even our most vigilant house painter.
I use walls, windows, gates and doors as a kind of societal litmus, to capture that place where time brushes up against civilization. Worn shutters and gates all tell a story. Dappled light entrances us. A curtain blowing in the breeze entices the imagination. Our mind can wander through the opening and be free to find our own fantasies.
Delicate tones and dramatic shadows come into play, exciting or calming the viewer.
Somehow, a pause is depicted.
Theatre and murals
Since 1997 Karen has painted both English and French theatre sets at our National Arts Centre in Ottawa. As Head Scenic Artist, since the year 2000, she has created hard sets, floors, and canvass backdrops, cut and translucent drops, and scrims of many sizes and styles. Her skills make use of a wide variety of classical and creative theatrical techniques.
She has helped to create new exhibits in venues like the Museums of Nature, Science and Technology and Civilization, as well as for the Museum of Federation, and the National Gallery . She has had an opportunity to work with many of the top set designers in Canadian theatre, museum display and television. As a direct result of this experience, her own work has taken on a monumental scale.
Reproductions
My Giclee type reproductions are done on acid free heavy-weight paper, using archival inks to ensure their longevity. They range in price from 25-$200, depending upon the size.
Large Paintings
My large watercolours on paper are a result of the years of experience with the medium. Measuring approximately 33” x 45”, they dress out to about 4x5 feet once framed.
Mixed media pieces are done on canvas, and are stretched as wall pieces, or floor coverings. Floor cloths are traditional theatrical devices, at once transportable, and sealed for foot traffic. I have created many different floor imagery in my years as a scenic (theatre) artist. The subject matter is only bound by our imagination. Commissions are welcome.
Photography
She is not a photographer per se, but Karen uses her camera to record as well as to create. Her Alternative Photography, in the form of Polaroid image and emulsion transfers was her main creative tool for many years. Her expression of her love of antique Bermuda architecture is expressed with Black and White hand painted photographs. Images transferred to rice paper became a series investigating the Chinese I Ching as imagery.
all images are copyright by the artist Karen Phillips Curran 2023