Karen Vance, Artist
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Karen Vance |
 "Origins of Spring", 24" x 26", oil 2001 Collector's Choice Award! See ENLARGEMENT |
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"There are vulnerabilities as well as great strengths, in both nature and in humanity. In my paintings I strive to express these beautiful parallels and dichotomies in both subject matter and visual elements." Karen's original paintings have been juried into the C.M. Russell Art Auction, and won the Third Place award for her exhibit last year. She has been a featured artist in the Rocky Mountain PBS Anniversary Collection, the Denver Center of Performing Arts: "Saturday Night Live," and was a guest Artist for the Plein Air painters of America Annual Show on Catalina Island, in November 1999 and 2000. Karen's Web site KAREN VANCE hails from a family rich in art. She was born into the sixth generation of fine artists. As a child, in her Chicago suburban home, Sunday afternoons were reserved as family time. "My father, David Swartwout, an accomplished painter and sculptor, would give my sisters and me art lessons - how to draw a tree in our backyard or draw boats from the shore at Belmont Harbor. Or on a rainy Sunday, we would often spend an afternoon at the Art Institute learning from 'The Masters'. In our modest home, art was paramount. We had only original art hanging on our walls, I grew up knowing good art - I was surrounded by it", says Vance. Vance's fine art studies include art and graphics at Northern Illinois University, the Art Institute of Chicago and Classical Painting at the Village Art Academy in Skokie, Illinois. She has studied under the direction of Burton Silverman, Scott Christensen, Mark Daily, Michael Lynch, David Leffel, William Reese, Quang Ho, Clyde Aspevig, Richard Schmid, Michael Workman and the Plein Air Painters of America. Vance is a member of Art Students League of Denver and is a graduate of Quang Ho's Master's Class. "Quang Ho said, Vance is emerging as one of the nationally known artists in America and he has no doubt she'll continue along a fast track toward artistic stardom". - Alpenglow Magazine. Karen Vance's art career includes nearly 12 years as a graphic artist and the past 16 years creating fine art, professionally. Karen's award-winning paintings have appeared in numerous publications and are a part of many private and corporate collections nationwide. She works in several mediums; oil, watercolor, and sculpture. Vance's landscapes have been reproduced in 24 limited edition prints and posters. Her landscapes have been chosen to adorn the Winter Park Ski Posters for the past seven years, the Winter Park Music Festival Prints, the Bach, Beethoven and Breckenridge Music Festival Print, and the 2001 Wells Fargo Bank Cup Poster. Karen's original paintings are much sought after. She has had a string of "sold-out" shows during the past year. Her work has been juried into the C.M. Russell Art Auction in Great Falls, Montana, the Rocky Mountain PBS Anniversary Collection, the Denver Center of Performing Arts: "Saturday Night Alive", and was a Guest Artist for the Plein Air Painters of America Annual Show on Catalina Island in November 1999 and again in 2000. Most recently, Karen has been invited to participate in the Colorado Governor's Invitational Show at Loveland Art Museum in April 200l. Karen was published in Southwest Art Magazine's "Artists to Watch" in the March 2001 issue. "Art is a verb", says Vance. "It is a continual growing and learning experience." She teaches both watercolor and oil painting workshops in Winter Park, and at various locations around the country. Her paintings depict the elements of beautiful American landscape and Colorado, her home of 18 years. However, "the painting beyond the subject, the dialogue between the visual elements, and the often elusive third level of fine art" is her true quest.
SMITH-KLEIN GALLERIES: ELK HORN ART GALLERY BOZEMAN TRAIL GALLERY BIG HORN GALLERY MONTANA TRAILS GALLERY Karen Vance, Artworks, Etc.,
Inc. (970) 726-5837 www.karenvanceart.com |
