About Karen Starrett

Creating new imagery either from painting or manipulating old images from printed materials is a satisfying experience for me. I have kept my collection of papers for over 20 years. I also incorporated remnants of my own works on paper in these mixed media pieces. In combining a hybrid of three media: monotype prints, paint, and paper, it feels like I’m combining the past with the present. Each of these works started intuitively as I drew random linear elements and shapes on the monotype. After a while I let the monotype speak to me and tell me what to do next. Each media has it’s a unique voice and I enjoy creating harmonious imagery merging their properties.

Biography

Karen Starrett is a painter, curator, and teaching artist. She lives and works at the Jersey Shore and her studio is located at the Jersey Shore Arts Center, Ocean Grove. Starrett is a graduate of Rutgers University, and an alumnus of the School of Visual Arts.In her paintings, she seeks a connection between invisible feelings and external imagery. Starrett has said, “For a painting to be successful there has to be a synthesis of color, form, and inner vision.

Her paintings have been in solo and two-person exhibitions at The DrawingRooms, Jersey City, Johnson and Johnson Headquarters, Ocean CountyCollege, Brodsky Gallery Chauncey Conference Center, Pier Village ArtGallery, and Mattison Gallery. Her paintings have also appeared in group exhibitions throughout the NY/NJ Metropolitan area including the Monmouth Museum, Penn State University, El Barrio’s Art Space PS109, and the Carter Burden Gallery. During COVID-19 her paintings have been seen in New York City’s Jason McCoy Gallery and SHRINE online exhibitions. Her work has also appeared in numerous literary and medical journals. In 2019, Starrett curated “Art & Healing,” an exhibition at the Monmouth Museum. She has received The Monmouth County ArtsCouncil’s award for painting and a grant from The Puffin Foundation.

Artist Statement

“As an artist I work in different mediums —painting, collage, monoprints, and assemblage. The appeal of each medium is its physicality. During the past few years I’ve been mostly painting. Moving my hand across the canvas is pure freedom. I begin each painting by drawing random shapes in yellow ochre and then wiping some of them away allowing new forms to arise by overlapping, obscuring, and combining them. Each new shape informs what comes next until what I’m painting connects with a place or event in my memory. These ‘silent’ words and the evolving color pallet draw me into a conversation with the painting. At some point the conversation is over, until it begins again in a new painting.

Exhibition highlights include one person shows at Johnson and Johnson and Educational Testing Service. I have exhibited in museums and galleries, included in private collections, published on magazine covers, catalogues, corporate calendars, and a poetry anthology.

From Rutgers University I received a B.A. in art education and studied at the School of Visual Arts. As a certified NJ art teacher and dementia practitioner, I facilitate art workshops for people with limited physical and cognitive abilities. My love of personal imagery and the use of paint, paper and mixed media as the foundation of my curriculum, is a continuation of my life as an artist.”

– – Karen Starrett

2023 New Brunswick Art Salon – Watercolor and Media Exhibition “See the Forest for the Trees”

2022 New Brunswick Art Salon – Watercolor and Mixed Media “After the Charm: In the Name of Autumn”

New Brunswick Art Salon 2016 Part II Watercolor and Mixed Media Exhibition

EXHIBITIONS(solo and two person):
2014
Frederick Gallery, Spring Lake, NJ
Art Alliance Exhibition Windows – Invitational, Red Bank,N.J.
2013
Oyster Point Hotel, Red Bank, NJ
Brodsky Gallery, Educational Testing Systems, Princeton, NJ
2010
Pier Village Art Gallery, Long Branch, NJ
2009
Johnson & Johnson Headquarters Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
Mattison Gallery, Asbury Park, NJ Curator: Joel Moneson
2007
Gallery on Grant, “Genetic Science/Healing Art”, Deal, NJ
EXHIBITIONS(selected juried group):
2015
#13 Abstract Artists, Middletown Library, Middletown, NJ
Postcards from the Edge, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., NYC
Local Color Gallery at The Houston Street Center, Fundraiser, NYC
Studio Montclair, “State of the Art 2016”, Montclair, NJ
The Noyes Museum, Signature Artist Exhibit, Oceanville, NJ
Art Alliance Annual Exhibition, Red Bank, NJ. Juror: Adrienne Rooney, Curatorial Ass’t, Whitney Museum
“Impressions: The Art of the Print”, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ. Juror, Patricia Ingersoll, Manager
of the Alumni Gallery at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
Invitational, “A Little Wax” exhibit, Arts Guild New Jersey, Rahway, NJ. Curator: Douglas Ferrari
“Childhood Memories“, four collages on exhibit at Zufall Health Center, Dover, NJ
Mixed Media Paintings, New Brunswick Art Salon, Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
“Daring to Defy the Medium: What is Collage?” Juried by the National Association of Women Artists,
Metro31 Show, CWOW Gallery, Newark, NJ. Evan Brownstein, Curator, B. Beamesderfer Gallery
Small Works, Pleiades Gallery, NYC. Curator: Ellen Bradshaw, Gallery Director
“Healing Through Art:A Collaborative Exhibition”, Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
Jersey Artist Registry Exhibition, Hotel Tides, Asbury Park, NJ. Curator, Ellen Martin, Registry Director
“Spring”, Central Jersey Blood Center, Shrewsbury, NJ
2014
“Inner Reflections: 3-Person Exhibit, Studio Space on Madison, Dumont, NJ (13 paintings)
“Autumn”, Central Jersey Blood Center, Shrewsbury, NJ
Signature Artist Exhibit, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ
“Who’s Your Mama”, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ
“Voices and Visions IV”, The Art Center, Highland Park, Illinois
Invitational, “Honoring Summer”, The Center for Visual Arts Gallery, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ Curator: Marie Maber
A.I.R. Gallery Benefit, “Wish You Were Here”, Brooklyn NY
“Art on the Edge”, Belmar Arts Gallery, Belmar, NJ
“Signs and Symbols”, Heaven Art Gallery, Asbury Park, NJ Juror: Dennis Carroll, Gallery Director
“The Garden Exhibit”, Guild of Creative Arts, Shrewsbury, NJ
“Eclectic Aesthetics”, Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
“Ellarslie Open XXXI”, Trenton City Museum, NJ. Juror: Kelly Baum, Ph.D.; Haskell Curator of Modern
and Contemporary Art at Princeton University Art Museum
Visual Aids Benefit, “Postcards from the Edge”, Luhring Augustine Gallery, NY
“Visions of the Mind”, HUB-Robeson Galleries, Penn State University Park Campus, University Park, PA
“Small Format Exhibit”, Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
Invitational Exhibition, “Unusual Art”, Belskie Museum, Closter, NJ
2013
Downstairs Art Gallery, Carter Burden Center, New York City. Curator: Liz Curtin
Signature Artist Exhibition, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ
“Color Power”, Heaven Gallery, Asbury Park, NJ Juror: Dennis Carroll, Gallery Director
34th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Jury Panel, Lincroft, NJ,
“Violence”, Philadelphia Inquirer Building, SSP Gallery, Conshohocken, PA
27th Annual Townsend Award Exhibition, Art Alliance, Red Bank, NJ
Karl Drerup Art Gallery, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH Juror: Saisha M. Grayson, Curator, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum.
Abstract Expressions, ABstract EXpressions Gallery, Mount Holly, NJ Juror: James Kent, Gallery Director
2012
New Jersey State Annual Juried Competition, Best in Show Award, Art Alliance, Red Bank, NJ
Juror: Mary Kate O’Hare, PhD. Curator of American Art at Newark Museum, Faculty Rutgers University
“Coming of Age”, Jury Panel, Riverside Branch NYC Library, New York, NY
“Backlash”, Soho20 Gallery, Jury Panel, New York, NY
“October”, The Guild of Creative Art, Jury Panel, Shrewsbury, NJ
“Distressed”, Boricua College Gallery, Curator: Heather Stolz, Women’s Caucus for Art, New York, NY
“Spring”, Midday Gallery, Jury Panel, Englewood, NJ
“A Light in the Tunnel”, Overlook Hospital, Jury Panel, Summit, NJ
2011
“Ev(e)olution”, Jury Panel, Riverside Branch NYC Library, NYC
“Les Femmes Artistes Vernissage”, Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL,
“Surface Pattern”, Caladan on-line Gallery, Cambridge, MA
Invited Artist, Axelrod Theater, Gallery on Grant, Deal, NJ
6 Invited Artists, “We Can Do It”, Multi-media exhibit, Monmouth County Headquarter Library
2010
“Art on Paper”, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ Juror: Bruce Waldman, School of Visual Arts, NYC
24th New Jersey Statewide Juried Exhibition, Honorable Mention Award, Art Alliance, Red Bank, NJ.
Juror: Kate Somers, Fine Arts Consultant and Curator of the Bernstein Gallery at Princeton University
Monmouth Museum State Annual, Lincroft, NJ Juror: Frank Hyder
2009
Invited Artist, AtlantiCare Foundation, Atlantic City, NJ,
Ceres Gallery, Jury Panel, New York, NY
Featured Monthly Artist, www.JerseyArts.com
Gallery on Grant, Deal, NJ
Works on Paper, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft NJ
2008
“Deep Waters: Heart/Soul Triad”, Three-Artist exhibit, Middletown, NJ
Shore Institute of Contemporary Art, Long Branch, NJ
Pegas Gallery, Norristown, PA
Best in Show, Monmouth Museum State Exhibition, Lincroft, NJ Juror: Naomi Grossman
2007
Paesaggio Gallery, Hartford, CN
Invitational, Six Women Artists, Powy’s Gallery, Shrewsbury, NJ
AWARDS/GRANTS/CURATING:
2014
Accepted in The Painting Center’s, Artist Registry, NYC
Curator for “More”, The Art Alliance Gallery, Red Bank, NJ
2013
Accepted in Noyes Museum “Signature Artist” category
Award in Sculpture, ABstract EXpressions Gallery, Mount Holly, NJ Juror: James Kent, Gallery Director
2012
Best in Show, Art Alliance Award, NJ Annual Statewide Exhibit
2011
NEA Recipient: 2011 Creative Aging Institute Fellowship, New York, NY
Teaching Artist Registry for Lifetime Arts, New York
2010
The Creative Center: Arts in Healthcare Hospital Artist-in-Residence Training Institute
Inducted into The National Association of Women Artists, New York, NY
2009
Honorable Mention, Manhattan Arts International, NYC
Monmouth County Arts Council Awards
2008
Curator for The Gallery on Grant, Deal, NJ
The Puffin Foundation Grant
Capelli d’Angeli Foundation Grant
Best in Show Award, Sculpture, The Monmouth Museum State Annual Exhibit
PRESS:
2015 Novartis one-time purchase publishing rights for “Love 101”
Novartis Calendar 2013; published artwork
Women’s Rights: An Artist’s Perspective Catalogue
Blood and Thunder: Musings on the Art of Medicine, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine
Cable Interview: Artist Series – Ocean 77
TEACHING:
2015
Creative Aging Core Training, The Creative Center:Arts in Healthcare, NY
2014
Art Workshop for Caregivers, Princeton Arts Council
Docent – Princeton Art Museum tour for Caregivers
2011- present
Creative Aging Arts, LLC: On-site art workshops for people in adult communities and
assisted living facilities
1982 to 2003
Graphic Design Consultant, Starrett Design Studio, Ocean, NJ
EDUCATION:
Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ General Honors –
BA in Art Education.
The School of Visual Arts, Alumnus, New York
Art New England, Bennington, New York
VanDeb Monoprint Workshop, New York
R & F Encaustics, Kingston, New York
MEMBERSHIPS & AFFILIATIONS:
National Association of Women Artists
National Council of Creative Aging
Monmouth County Arts Council
Artists for Alzheimer’s (ARTZ) (www.artzalx.org)
The Guild for Creative Arts

Feel free to visit Karen’s website: www.karenstarrett.com


2015

From my earliest memory I always made things. My study of art began at Rutgers University where I received a BA in art education. The focus of my work at that time was on making narrative collages. A life changing experience impelled me to switch to painting. The first paintings were figurative and about the change that can happen to the human body. Eventually the paintings became more than a portrait of the physical body; the figures dissolving and merging with the space of the painting. In my recent work, I have shifted from a focus on the body to nature and the physical world while continuing to explore a personal imagery.

My paintings have been exhibited in solo shows at Johnson & Johnson Headquarters Gallery, New Brunswick; the Brodsky Gallery – ETS, Princeton; the Frederick Gallery, Spring Lake, the Mattison Gallery, Asbury Park; the Oyster Point Hotel, Red Bank; and at the Gallery on Grant, Deal. I have also participated in many group shows throughout the U.S.including the Noyes Museum, the Monmouth Museum, the Belskie Museum, and the Trenton State Museum.

I have been awarded grants from the Puffin Foundation, Meridian Healthcare Foundation, and the Capelli diAngeli Foundation to further my work and have received awards from the Monmouth Museum in recognition for painting and sculpture.

In addition to being a working artist, I am a certified dementia practitioner facilitating art workshops for people with age-related memory loss in adult communities and assisted living facilities. My love of personal imagery and the use of paint, paper, and mixed media as the foundation of my curriculum, is a continuation of my life as an artist.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Throughout my life, art has been the bridge connecting my inner and outer world. As a girl growing up I did not have a viable female role model. By creating imagery that grows out of personal experience, making art gives me confidence in my voice as an individual and a woman.

My work transforms images of the familiar into a space inhabited by colors, forms, and linear elements. Even though I paint intuitively, each painting inevitably tells a story about something that concerns me or something I need to adjust to. Through layering colors and lines, by scratching, adding, extracting, and incising paint, I am able to reveal my hidden stories. My paintings leave lots of room for viewer interpretations, and by exhibiting my work, I have a chance to connect with all viewers, each of us growing up and making our way to have our voices heard in a tumultuous world.


2014

Karen Starett

Beginnings that End

Karen Starrett graduated from Douglass College, Rutgers University, with a B.A. in Art Education. She continued her education at the School of Visual Arts, and continues to develop as an artist through participation in painting, printmaking, and encaustic workshops. As a painter and printmaker, she uses oils, acrylics, and monotype to create pieces that are connected to her personal experiences. She uses art as a vehicle and connector to her introverted and extroverted spheres. She explains how this is done in two ways;

“First, By creating imagery that grows out of personal experience, making art give me confidence in my voice as an individual and a woman. Second, layering colors and forms by scratching, adding, extracting, and incising paint, I am able to safely reveal what lie beneath the surface, a process which, while technical, allows me to reveal my hidden stories of being female.”

Through this process she is able to create  genuinely expressive pieces of art.  Starrett shares this process by working as a certified dementia practitioner, where she runs artistic workshops in assisted living homes.

5. Found ComfortArtist Statement

To me, painting is a spiritual activity, a pathway to access my inner life. Through the action of painting, I experience my spiritual “mood”.

My artwork is created on 400 lb Artistco paper, which I nail onto the wall of my studio. The stability of the surface frees me to exert pressure and scrape, knowing the surface is secure. After sizing the paper, I then coat it with an wax formula. The process is as follows: I heat the wax formula and quickly brush it on the paper, then quickly and lightly scrape it. At this point, I am totally en-gaged in the process of painting. As I move the paint across the surface, the shapes intuitively unfold in spontaneous gestures. I paint, erase, draw, repaint, and erase until the mood of the painting connects.

I re-enter the painting with the same spirit I started with, now integrating line/ form/color/texture/composition. My images are rendered by combining the oil paint mixed with a cold wax. The combination of materials allows me to move my images on the surface, lend a texture and luminosity, incise the paint, revealing the undercoat and leaving my mark. Working in this way reflects the layering of my inner and outer life.

PAST EXHIBITIONS

2014

Postcards from the Edge, Luhring Augustine Gallery, NYC

Unusual Art, Belskie Museum, Closter, NJ

2013

Downstair Art Gallery, Carter Burden Center, NYC (Juried Show)

Karent Starrett: Current Paintings (Solo Exhibition), Oyster Point Hotel, Red Bank, NJ

Artist Represented by the Frederick Gallery, Spring Lake, NJ

34th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ

2012

26th Annual NJ State-Wide Jury Competition (Won Best in Show), Art Alliance, Red Bank, NJ

Backlash, Soho20 Gallery, NYC

October, The Guild for Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ

A Light in the Tunnel, Overlook Hospital, Summit, NJ

2011

Ev(e)olution, Riverside Branch NYC Library, NYC

Les Femmes Artistes Vernissage, Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL

11th Annual All-Media Juried Online International Art Exhibition, Upstream People Gallery, Omaha, NE

We Can Do It, Multi-media exhibit, Manalapan, NJ

2010

Solo Exhibition, Mattison Gellery, Asbury Park, NJ

Beyond the Surface: Intentions and Inspirations, Pier Village Gallery, Long Branch, NJ