Karen Steen started her professional art career as an editorial illustrator. She made scores of tiny paintings, published in magazines and books, that provided visual information about scientific subjects related to health, well-being and medicine. In response to the constraints of commercial illustration, Karen entered into a phase of exploration during which she studied various printmaking techniques, and unconventional uses of materials. The quest to refine her personal expression, led her to pursue an MFA degree, which she completed in 2007 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. She also has Bachelors degrees in Illustration, earned in 1988 at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and in Business, earned in 1978 at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Karen relishes the challenge of combining the technical and conceptual skills she developed as an illustrator with the intuitive approach of a fine artist.
Artistic influences include Lee Bountecou, for her singular vision and masterful use of materials, Elizabeth Murray for blurring the line between picture and object, and for making work that is both serious and playful, and Aurora Robson, for her inventive hanging sculptures, inspired by organic forms and made from cast-off plastic bottles.
Steen has won numerous awards and has exhibited in Southern California, Philadelphia, New York City, and various locations in the mid-Atlantic region. She was an award winner in the prestigious exhibition, Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2010, at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, and won the Betsy Meyer Memorial Award for Experimental Art in 2009.
Karen is a southern California native, although she recently moved to Kansas City after spending 8 years in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her new Kansas City studio is located in the Livestock Exchange Building.
While living on the east coast, Karen trained to be a hospital artist in residence at The Creative Center, in New York City and worked at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem and Allentown, Pennsylvania. She assisted cancer patients and their families with creative projects to encourage healing and well-being. Karen was also a drawing instructor at Penn State Lehigh Valley.
Solo Exhibitions
2015 Karen Steen in the KCAC Underground Gallery
2015 Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO
2013“Assembled”, Connexions Gallery, Easton, PA
2012“Play”, Highwire Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2012 "Nature's Dance", Eagle’s Nest Gallery, Nazareth, PA
2011“Nature’s Dance”, Speer Gallery, at The Shipley School, Bryn Mawr, PA
2009“Fragile Systems: Mixed Media Works on Paper”, SoPas Gallery, South Pasadena, California
Selected Group Exhibitions
2015 HEAT: A Juried Exhibition - Best in Show Award
Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City, MO
Jurors: Burton Dunbar, Ph.D., Jan Schall, Ph.D., Patricia B. Glenn and Michael J. Pronko, MD
2015 Art Source and Design Gallery and Framing - featured artist
Overland Park, KS
Juror: Marissa Flynn2013 Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2013
The State Museum of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, PA
2013 "Absolutely Abstract", Lehigh Art Alliance
City Hall Rotunda Gallery, Bethlehem, PA
Juror: Ann Lalik - awarded Honorable Mention
2012 “Harmony and Contrast, Perspectives of the East and West”
Highwire Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2012 "Friends of Nursing Celebration"
ArtsQuest Center at Steel Stacks
Bethlehem, PA
2011 "Looking for Order" (two-person show)
Highwire Gallery
Philadelphia, PA
2011 “112th Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Fellowship Exhibition”
Artists House Gallery
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Juror: Nina Martino
2011 “Lehigh Art Alliance Featured Artists Exhibition”
The Gallery at Penn State Lehigh Valley, Center Valley, PA
Juror: Ann Lalik
2011 "Language of Line, Geometry, Pattern and Shape"
PAFA Alumni Gallery at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia, PA
Jurors: Ken Kewley and Peter Van Dyck
2011 Silver Anniversary International Juried Show
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit NJ
Juror: Joan Young, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
2010 two-person show at The Gallery at the JCC
Jewish Community Center
Allentown, PA
2010 "Exploring Invisible," Highwire Gallery
Philadelphia, PA
2010 Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2010 - 3rd Place for Works on Paper
The State Museum of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, PA
Juror: Leo Mazow
2010 "Drawn From Nature", 6th Annual Juried Exhibition - 1st Place for Works on Paper
John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove
Audubon, PA
Jurors: Ernest Norcia and Aaron Goldblatt
2010 Lehigh Art Alliance - UGI Utilities Award
Baker Center for the Arts at Muhlenberg College
Allentown, PA
Jurors: Eleanor Schimmel and Peter Van Dyck
2009 6th Annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition - $1,000 Betsy Meyer Memorial Award winner
Main Line Art Center
Haverford, PA
Juror: Julien Robson, Curator Contemporary Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
2009 International Society of Experimental Artists Annual Show - 2nd Place
Binney and Smith Gallery
Bethlehem, PA
Juror: Carol Pickle
2009 96th Annual Exhibition Allied Artists of America, Inc.
The National Arts Club
New York, NY
Jurors: Gary T. Erbe, Evelyn Floret, Claudia Seymour, Tom Valenti
2009 Lehigh Art Alliance 74th Annual Spring Juried Exhibition - Air Products Foundation Award and Binney and Smith Gallery, Bethlehem, PA - awarded Honorable Mention
Jurors: Rosalind Bloom and George N. Nista
2008 Absolutely Abstract
The Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA - awarded Honorable Mention
Jurors: Cameron McMillan and Hitoshi Nakazato
2008 Juried Alumni Exhibition
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Gallery 128
Philadelphia, PA
Juror: David R. Brigham, Ph D
2008 Lehigh Art Alliance 73rd Annual Spring Juried Exhibition - awarded Honorable Mention
City Hall Rotunda Gallery, Bethlehem, PA
Jurors: Alan Goldstein and Leslie Kaufman
2007 Lehigh Art Alliance 72nd Annual Fall Juried Exhibition - awarded Honorable Mention
Siegel Gallery, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
Jurors: Laura Frazure and Tim Gaydos