Karen Zima's Artist Profile
Karen Zima from coopersburg, Pennsylvania, United States
i like artist
I create because I must. To exist without producing any works of art, whether it be through the brush or through the lens, would be a life unlived. My work is both reflection and expression of myself. It is my lifeline. It would be very difficult to pinpoint my inspiration as an artist because my art is internally driven and everything around me inspires me. My art is also based on my emotions at the time I am painting it. It is an eternal journey into my soul, and my art is a diary of my life. I seek to stimulate the viewer's emotions through the passion I feel when I am immersed in a painting. My vision as an artist is to take my inspiration and creativity and turn something that is invisible to most people into a work of art and show them what I am seeing, and hope they enjoy it. Without vision an image is just an image. With vision, an image becomes a message that provokes an emotion from the viewer. And, that is the whole thing about art. It has the power to produce a variety of human emotions. My art is a record of what my feelings and emotions are, and at the same time, it can bring about emotional reactions in the viewer.
Artist's Statement
I create because I must. To exist without producing any works of art, whether it be through the brush or through the lens, would be a life unlived. My work is both reflection and expression of myself. It is my lifeline. It would be very difficult to pinpoint my inspiration as an artist because my art is internally driven and everything around me inspires me. My art is also based on my emotions at the time I am painting it. It is an eternal journey into my soul, and my art is a diary of my life. I seek to stimulate the viewer's emotions through the passion I feel when I am immersed in a painting. My vision as an artist is to take my inspiration and creativity and turn something that is invisible to most people into a work of art and show them what I am seeing, and hope they enjoy it. Without vision an image is just an image. With vision, an image becomes a message that provokes an emotion from the viewer. And, that is the whole thing about art. It has the power to produce a variety of human emotions. My art is a record of what my feelings and emotions are, and at the same time, it can bring about emotional reactions in the viewer.
I was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. My talent was recognized early, when at the age of ten I won a prize for a portrait in a school contest. After high school, I furthered her art studies at Penn State. I Consider myself to be a prolific painter who is known for my great attention to detail and strength color in my work. I can make light and brilliant colors dance on my canvas to create a magical and alluring harmony. My expertise is in painting in oil, acrylic and pastel. Throughout my life, I have drawn from inspiration from everyday and everyone around me. Then, I add my imagination and bring an alluring work of art to life. I studied photography at Penn State and the local community college. I have worked as a professional for an advertising agency in the 90’s. I worked mostly doing slide presentations for big corporations, stock brochures, ads and clothing catalogues. For me Photography has always fascinated me with it’s ability to capture a precise moment in time. There is that one split second that captures the essence of a person and to me that is such a powerful thing. I also love landscape photography and love traveling around the globe. When I see beauty, I love to capture it so others can see what I saw. As a way for me to express my thoughts and feelings - photography is an amazing art medium that I have been passionate about since I can remember. I believe that photography forces you to look around, open your eyes and see. I think the most important thing as an artist is to be inspired by life.