KAREN KURKA JENSEN
Brule Peaks, ink on paper, 17 x 26

Karen, a native of Minnesota, now calls Iowa home, where she lives with her husband, children, and grandchildren.  She studied sumi-e from masters in the Chinese art form for over 15 years.  She has exhibited and sold her paintings throughout the Midwest, and has been honored with several awards in Minnesota , Wisconsin, and Iowa.

Karen conveys life’s inner and outer beauty through her medium of natural materials: pine soot ink, rice paper, bamboo brush and grinding stone, and her adaptation of the basic Chinese sumi-e painting techniques.

text and image from The Chait Galleries Downtown