These paintings are collages of freshly painted and previously made paintings; recycled materials such as photocopies of paintings, acetate and industrial printing materials from the family screen printing business; handmade marbelized and paste paper; hand cut block prints and hand cut stencils. They grow from an interest in palimpsetic histories, stenciling, printmaking and pochoir, from trips to eastern Slovakia, and from making drawings of my own sculpture and pottery. There is ongoing influence and interaction between my painting, sculpture and doodling.
Contact Karen for information about purchasing art and pottery.
Hervatov Interior: Stencilled Wall Detail
My cousin's husband Peter holds the keys to many of eastern Slovakia's architectural gems because he is the historian in charge of many restorations. Walls inside many of the churches are stencilled with overlapping, layered, and intertwined designs. I sketched, photographed and used the stencils as the starting point for layered paintings.
Jedlinka. 2006. 30x22" Acrylic
This is an early painting in which you can see images that evolved along with the layering. Perhaps you can find an image of a pot and sphere in the lower right- as my painting are also deeply rooted in my pottery, there is a constant interchange between the two.
Studies and sketches related to Paintings
Sketches 2008. Ink, relief printing.
Ink Drawing, 2004
This is one of early ink drawings based on the imagery I saw.
Church in Hervatov, Slovakia
Hervatov Interior: Stencilled Wall Detail
On a 2004 pilgrimage to eastern Slovakia, home to my Palcho ancestors and living family, I was intrigued by the stenciled interiors of the region's famed wooden churches. My family's business in screen printing (a stencil based process) goes back to 1890 when my great grand-uncle started the first industrial screen printing business in the US. I visit my cousins in Slovakia often. We hunt mushrooms, cook goulash over the fire, and play accordion and sing all night in the woods and the garden.
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