Karen Barber is primarily interested in celebration. Bold, provocative and daring, Karen’s vibrant work warms the senses to celebrate the joy of life and the beauty of colour and luxurious materials. Karen specialises in producing cell and science inspired work. Karen aims to convey joy, hope and energy through her range of paintings, screen-prints and mixed-media collages.
Following a foundation course in Art, Karen started her career in Cambridge as a ceramicist and followed her heart into the theatre designing stage sets. This love of dramatic themes is evident in the bold use of colour and materials ; see “Renovation” series. A move into a design agency in London enabled Karen to travel and exposed her to a wide range of architectural styles, artistic influences and techniques.
In particular, travels across North Africa and India inspired the vibrancy of the “Zrabia” and “Indian Summer” series and aims to celebrate the free-flowing and unstructured approach to life in these continents. English works such as “Sea Stories”, “Autumn” and “Jay” evoke the relative calmness and serenity of life back home.
Karen has exhibited widely including the DFL Galleries in New York, Barbican Print Show in London, Contemporary Art Holdings in Cheltenham, Wet Paint in Cirencester, Strode Theatre as well as the RWA, Innocent Fine Art and the Riverstation restaurant in Bristol. Karen has appeared on television including BBC Breakfast, been interviewed several times on national and local radio and featured in several national and local periodicals and magazines. Karen has work in the Newhall College Cambridge Art Collection, the largest collection of women’s art in Europe.