Karen Walters
“Breathing life back into a very old and large dense beam of rimu that was once part of a building for 100’s of years before becoming discarded rubble. Seeing its grain shine through during the process of carving, sanding and finally oiling.”
Sculptor
We love...
We have been chasing Karen for a few years now, deeply in love with the work she creates out of lumps of forgotten or discarded woods of New Zealand. After a visit to her previous home in Mapua a connection was formed, only to now be deepened by Karen and whanau moving up to our backyard. How cool is it that we can hand-pick the pieces every time to present to our audience in the gallery. Lucky us. ARTFORM.
Currently in the gallery…
Feature
Karen sculpts out of native timber with an interest in reflecting the energy and essence of life forms and lines within the NZ landscape. Following on from attaining a Bachelor of Education Degree from Auckland University, Karen gained a qualification in Graphic Design at AUT before moving to Australia and completing a Visual Arts Degree at James Cook University, in her final year achieving Top Sculpture Award 2002. After this, Karen spent 3 years teaching Art and Senior Design at Diocesan School for Girls where she became Head of the Senior Design Department. Karen then went on to pursue a full time career in art and has remained a full time artist since 2006, regularly exhibiting nationally and internationally.
In 2011 she moved to Nelson with her family. It was at this time that she and her husband Mike (a manufacturing jeweller) started up Kereru Gallery in the seaside town of Mapua, which they ran successfully for 10 years. Here they produced and exhibited their own work alongside work from an outstanding selection of artists from around NZ. Skipping forward to today… in 2021 Karen and Mike felt it was time to return to family in the North Island, and so (in a nut shell) they have moved into a picturesque spot in Sandspit where they now concentrate on solely creating their own work.
Karen’s skillfully honed sculptures are valued for their aesthetic balance and soulful depth, they have found their way into homes, offices, personal and public collections across Aotearoa and throughout the world.