RICKY FRANK - Mendocino Art Center

KAREN WHEELERPASSIONATE PIXELS IN PHOTOSHOPJuly 27 – 28DIGITAL & MIXED MEDIAJuly 30 – August 2Meet the TeacherKaren Wheeler is a professionalartist, designer, and educatorwith over 20 years experience,specializing in MixedMedia Assemblage, DigitalDesign, Papermaking, andDrawing. Like Brian Davis, shehad the advantage of encouragingparents. She “began her artistlife drawing on the wall of herroom in her childhood homenear Chicago. Fortunately, thisactivity was encouraged by herartist mother, who painted thewall black and provided Karenand her brothers with colorfulchalks.” Karen receiveda BFA from IndianaUniversity and an MFAin Printmaking fromOhio University, thenspecialized in drawingon her own handmadepapers for many years.This work won manynational awards and hasbeen exhibited widely.In the early 1990’s,Karen discoveredAdobe Photoshop andever since has immersedherself in the endlesspossibilities presented by combiningand refining the capabilities ofPhotoshop with traditional media.She currently “integrates drawing,handmade paper and digital imageryinto mixed media assemblages.She begins by making specializedpapers, combining ancientmethods with a modern aesthetic.These lusciously pigmented papersbecome the base for prismacolorand ink drawings which are embellishedwith collage. The drawingsare scanned into Photoshop andused as raw material for digitalpaintings which are then combinedwith other media. Architecturalprints and references tothe natural world blend tocreate a joyful lyricism.”Karen resided for manyyears in North Carolina,where she was a professorof art at WingateUniversity, and is in theprocess of relocating toNew Haven, Connecticut.Karen has a special abilityto teach Photoshop inaccessible terms.63