We were lucky to catch up with Karen Taylor recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Karen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My most meaningful project was based on the idea of ephemera. Ephemera are items that are not meant to last, meant to be fleeting and impermanent. They are also pieces of paper that are usually thrown away but can become collector’s items, like old concert tickets and baseball stickers.

I hand-painted 500 individual alphabet letters. Everyone who visited my booth got a free letter while they lasted. They could be kept as collector’s items and in taking one, visitors helped my fleeting installation to disappear.

I had no idea when I was constructing Ephemera that taking the time (and it was a lot of time) and effort to make these handcrafted gifts would mean so much. I’m cynical and jaded and maybe I’ve forgotten that little acts of love for strangers can be everything. It’s not something I’ll forget again. I didn’t expect the impact it had on people, and myself.

Karen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Whether it’s a song lyric, a stirring quote or a favourite character, my abstract paintings are composed of my favourite words in fitting fonts and colours.

My journey here took the long way round. I started out as a scientist; ventured into computing, picking up project management skills along the way; before I ended up where I’d always wanted to be, an artist.

I’ve been doing this full-time for almost two decades. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. I couldn’t have imagined as a little girl with a crayon in her hand that I would get to come into this amazing studio/gallery space that I share with friends and get to paint big colourful abstracts on my easel.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Every series or project that I work on must be personal, it must involve something significant to me. Something important to me is giving some of my creative time to charity, especially charities that help level the playing field.

Last year I was involved in StopGap’s annual fundraiser. They are the charity that makes most of the wheelchair ramps outside of Toronto’s stores. Artists paint smaller versions of their ramps and they are auctioned off.

This year I hand-printed a series of linocuts on paper that I sell from outdoor shows and my studio. A portion each goes to a literacy charity.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

In running a small business artists must wear many hats: researching ideas, marketing, social media wrangling, exhibition submissions, stage crew at exhibitions, building installations, shipping, stretching canvasses, product photography, and doing interviews, to name just a few.

It’s a lot of hard work and takes me away from creating for much of my day, but it’s worth it because the rest of the time I get to paint.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.KarenTaylorArt.com
• Instagram: @KarenTaylorArt

Image Credits

Karen Taylor
David Harcombe