Karen Kalkstein
  • 1-203-322-9469
  • kjkalk@optonline.net
Karen Kalkstein
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The artist in her studio

Artist Statement

Nature is my material and my subject matter: the stones, the woods, the weather, the human figure. I spend much of each year in Vermont, and the feel of the landscape creeps into my work. I’m drawn to hidden places, quiet details, whispered things, fairy tale worlds. I am a hunter-gatherer inside my studio, and outside on walks in the woods. Foraging makes me slow down and look closely at the intimate details of my surroundings. During walks I collect materials shed by the forest: curls of birch bark, wasp nest paper, twigs, stones, lichen, a scatter of bright feathers. Inside my studio, I repurpose old artwork, forgotten art supplies, household detritus, fabrics, photos and found plastic. I combine these natural and human-made materials into wall hangings, collages, drawings and printmaking. The wall hangings reference the human body in gesture and shape. Like imagined forest garments, they become a tapestry, an elf king’s cloak, a gown for a woods gala. The collages and prints are invented landscapes, otherworldly maps of my lived environment.

(c) 2025 Karen Kalkstein • All Rights Reserved • Website by Kendall Laird

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  • 1-203-322-9469
  • kjkalk@optonline.net