Karen Terry

About Karen Terry 

Karen Terry finds her greatest inspiration in nature, particularly the seasonal changes and simple scenes. She draws from her daily interactions with nature and utilizes her techniques to create low light images of the environment without the use of hard lines. Her images tap into visual and sensory memories, extending beyond her own experiences and to the universal. Her works use sumi ink, which has been traditionally used in East Asian brush painting and calligraphy for centuries. She also uses heavy weight cotton watercolor paper, which enables her to work with ink and ink washes cumulatively, adding and texturizing layers. While Terry retains the essential nature of her subjects, her monochromatic ink washes and minimal expressionism capture the unseen spirit of the natural world.

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

New Brunswick Art Salon 2016 – Watercolor and Mixed Media Part II: “Movements in Nature Perspectives of being”

New Brunswick Art Salon 2021 – Winners: “Resonant Becoming”

Artist Personal Website: http://artistkarenterry.com/ 

Artist Personal Email: kterry19@comcast.net 

Artist Statement 

Karen Terry is a contemporary fine artist who resides in central New Jersey. She finds inspiration in the change of season sand simple natural images, which she records as landscapes of the physical and inner realms. As we, ourselves, are natural systems and embody nature,  Terry paints what she takes in of the natural world; what she holds, becomes or embodies-and releases. The painting techniques that she uses enable her to work with form and energy to create low light images of the environment, generally without the use of hard lines. Her images tap into visual and sensory memory and a universality that extends beyond her own experience. Terry’s exploration of space and form, of ambiance and energy, primarily includes use of the sumi ink medium. Sumi ink has been used in East Asian brush painting and calligraphy since early times, and traditional forms of sumi brush painting are still used in contemporary Zen practice today.  Terry’s use of sumi ink is a departure from the classical Eastern brush painting form. She pushes the medium, while retaining the essential natural subject matter, monochromatic ink wash tonality and minimal expressionist capture of the unseen-of spirit. Terry uses heavy weight cotton watercolor paper that enables her to work with ink/ ink washes in cumulative layers-adding, removing, texturizing; using various tools and materials for application and technique. Terry has exhibited her sumi ink paintings in various venues, including museums, and has received award sin juried exhibitions for her paintings.  

Exhibitions 

A Killing Frost, Hamilton Street Gallery, Bound Brook, NJ 16 Nov 2019–02 Jan 2020 

Cast A Shadow, Hamilton Street Gallery, Bound Brook, NJ14 Sep–31 Oct 2019 

Low Light Gratitudes, A Sumi Ink Wash Collection-Works on Paper, B. Beamesderfer Gallery, Highland Park, NJ, Solo Exhibition 27 Jun–28 Aug 2019 

Archetypes Art Show, Frenchtown First Friday, Ressarts Projects, Frenchtown, NJ 03 May 2019 

6th Annual Wild New Jersey, New Jersey Audubon Plainsboro Preserve, Plainsboro, NJ 31 Mar–30 Apr 2019 

Arborescence, Hamilton Street Gallery, Bound Brook, NJ 24 Mar–02 May 2019 

Le Paysage, Perkins Center for the Arts, Collingswood, NJ Gallery,3-Person Landscape Exhibition 13 Oct–08 Dec 2018 

Annual Juried Exhibition, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ Gallery 07 Oct–25 Nov 2018 

Does It Match the Couch? A Juried Exploration of Color, The Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ 01 Jun–02 Sep 2018 

Noyes Arts Garage, Noyes Art Museum Stockton University, Atlantic City, NJ 10 Aug 2018 

Figurative Art Exhibition, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery April 2018  

Strokes of Genius: A Fine Art Painting Exhibition, Maryland Federation of Art Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD 27 Oct–25 Nov 2017 

Juried Watercolor Exhibition: Traditional to Modern, The Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ 15 Sep–05 Nov 2017 

All Women Art Exhibition, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery January 2017 

Annual Juried Exhibition, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ Gallery 16 Oct–27 Nov 2016 

Ellarslie Open 33, Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, Trenton, NJ 07 May–26 Jun 2016 

39th Annual Art on Paper, Maryland Federation of Art Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD 01 Apr–30 Apr 2016 

36th Annual Juried Exhibition, The Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ 16 Jan–13 Mar 2016 

Ménage a Sept, Gallery 353, Princeton, NJ,7-Person Exhibition 14 Nov-31 Dec 2015 

ViewPoints 2015, Studio Montclair and Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ 04 Jun–01 Jul 2015 

Ruthie’s Bagel Dish Restaurant, Highland Park, NJ, Solo Exhibition 23 May–13 Jul 2015 

Ellarslie Open 32, Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, Trenton, NJ 09 May–28 Jun 2015 

Still Point VII Online Exhibition, Still Point Art Gallery, A Production of Shanti Arts 01 May–31 Jul 2015 

A Fellini Night, Arts Lab Series, Borona Arts Entertainment, New York, NY 24 Oct2014 

The Art of Darkness, Artworks, Trenton, NJ 11 Oct–01 Nov 2014 

Ellarslie Open 31, Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, Trenton, NJ 03 May–22 Jun 2014