Karen Phillips-Curran

My studio watercolours and acrylics are of calming riversides, tepid waters reflecting the land, clouds and sky. My acrylic walls and windows use structure to speak of light and texture. Colour can run rampant on these surfaces. My works generally are on paper or stretched canvas, but are sometimes walls or floors are the substrate. My many years of working for theatre taught me skills that intertwine even in my tiniest piece of art. I tend to work in series, the art of interpretation, taking an idea and running with it, re-creating it over and over until it reeks of itself, then is transformed. For 17 seasons, I was Canada's National Arts Centre Head Scenic Painter. In that time I painted the sets designed by some of Canada's best set designers. I learned form each and everyone of them. The large scale, and the challenges associated with painting these sets, embedded a sense of the monumental in my work. Perfectionism is eschewed for readability and impact. www.phillipscurran.ca