![]() Karen Spaulding
Instagram: @110galleryphoebus After earning her BFA from the University of Michigan School of Art & Design and getting her feet wet in advertising, Karen ran her own freelance graphic design business for over 20 years, where she designed ads and corporate identity and wrote advertising copy for several Virginia companies while being home with her children. She has explored the decorative arts, from murals, portraits, and pen and ink commissions to custom-painted roof slates and floor cloths. Influenced by childhood summers painting with her uncle on Lake Huron, and many years spent sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, then Mobile Bay, many of her paintings reflect her spontaneity and love of the water. While living on the Gulf Coast for 11 years, she was able to focus even more on her painting, attending workshops, plein air paint outs, and selling work in several galleries in the area. From 2018 to 2019, she served on the board of the Mobile Arts Council, which is at the forefront of raising awareness and funds for the arts, sponsoring art shows and promoting local artists. She also served on the Religious Arts committee of Spring Hill Presbyterian Church and introduced an outreach painting program to help reach out to those suffering from depression. That has evolved into a fellowship of new and seasoned artists who continue to meet every week. She continues to explore and pursue various surfaces and subjects, most recently dedicating time to plein air painting and studying botanical dry brush watercolor. She believes in always having a sketchbook or journal handy, and mentors a small group of painters in her Hampton studio once a week. Karen is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists, Virginia Watercolor Society, Virginia Plein Air Painters, Chesapeake Bay Watercolorists and Newport News Urban Sketchers and serves on the Hampton Arts Foundation. In the spring of 2024, the 110 Gallery, a combination fine art gallery and pottery studio/artisan workshop, will open under Karen’s management at 110 E. Mellen Street in Phoebus, the historic arts district of Hampton. |
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