ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Karen Fitzgerald lives and works in New York City, in Western Queens. She is a mid-career artist, teacher, and curator. Born and raised on a dairy farm in the Midwest, it is this early, close relationship with the natural world that informs her work. Her work is actively exhibited in the United States, with 23 solo exhibitions to date. She received grants from the Queens Community Arts Fund, the Women’s Studio Workshop, and New York Foundation For the Arts. Her work has been actively collected in both private and public collections. Heavily influenced by poetry, her work delights in the energy of gardens, mysteries and all things invisible.
ARTIST STATEMENT
This work is about making space for the voice of spirit. The language of form in these paintings connects the dots to the spiritual realm through the energy of all things physical.
Energy is the bridge between the physical and the spiritual. Light, particularly, calls our senses to the presence of that which is metaphysical. The essential relationship of matter and spirit is at the heart of my work. The physicality of the earth is tangible and real.
But another dimension is indelibly linked to that materiality, one that is experienced even though it cannot be measured or delineated. That elusive relationship between matter and spirit has been explored extensively in verbal form—poetry, philosophy, metaphysics—and those texts are essential touchstones in my work. Finding a way to translate that awareness into visual language is an essential commitment in my work.
I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. We lived close to the natural world, tuned to the earth and its ways. That Midwestern rootedness continues to ground my work. For over 30 years I have worked exclusively with the circle, or tondo. It is a form that presents the interconnectedness of the physical world, a concept that is fundamental to my work.
Opening Reception: Friday, April 18, 2025, 5:00 – 7:00 PM / Gallery Talk 5:30 PM
Gallery Exhibits have been supported by MAC Corporate Underwriter Colony Brands, Inc. and Season Media Underwriter Big Radio, with additional support from Lee & Chris Knuteson, David & Janeen Babler, Hans & Bobbie Bernet, David & Julie Buchanan, Deb Thompson, Chuck & Chris Wellington.