We recently connected with Karen Werth and have shared our conversation below.

Karen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I’ve known I wanted to pursue a creative profession since I was 12 years old. One of my older brothers brought home an art metals project he was working on – a beautiful, silver rope chain he had assembled using hand made links. Until that moment, I had no idea you could make items like this with your hands. It was a truly epiphanic moment that launched me onto a creative path, first as a metalsmith, and ultimately as a fine craft artist currently working in fused glass.

Karen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been actively creating jewelry, metalwork, mixed media sculpture and glasswork for more than 40 years. I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA, 1986) degree with an emphasis in sculpture from Winthrop University and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA, 1988) degree in jewelry design and metalsmithing from the University of Michigan. While pursuing my advanced degrees, I also actively volunteered with the school galleries to support the art community and learn more about exhibit and gallery culture. What I didn’t know at the time, was how that volunteer work would launch me into a lifelong profession in the museum field – a pursuit I considered my “day job” for many years, until I realized a symbiotic relationship between my creative work and my museum work.
While having a day job provided me the opportunity to create work without the burden of paying bills, it also influenced when and how I created – a sometimes challenging compromise. Instead of having a consistent timeframe in the studio, I had to adjust my creative cadence, learning to effectively create in shorter, concentrated sessions. As I learned to make those adjustments over the years, I also began to understand that working on exhibition design and development also provided a wealth of visual communication and storytelling experience. A successful exhibit design is one that unites text, objects, graphics, casework, colors, branding into a holistic experience, that when done successfully will not distract the viewer from the visual narrative. This pursuit of finessing and streamlining design components to succinctly communicate a visual story influenced my own aesthetic and creative process, especially as I began to explore fused glass as material and process, a material I began to explore about 15 years ago. Most of what I know about fused glass techniques I learned from workshops, and many, many experiments and mistakes. To ease the burden of learning and creating concurrently, I simplified my design vernacular to allow time to learn and improve on technique, focusing on basic design principals – pattern, color, light, shadow, positive and negative compositional juxtapositions. What evolved was body of work that focused on an exploration of patterns, color statements, in partnership with the inclusion of imagery, allowing me to slowly and methodically expand my visual narrative while also improving my techniques. I am now at the beginning of a new creative chapter where I have started to experiment with the marriage of more advanced fused glass techniques and metalwork. I’m looking forward to employing all my years of experience with a variety of materials and techniques to develop a body of work with more nuanced narratives.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

For many years, I often resented my own choice to work full time to pay my bills. While this decision allowed me the ability to create during my free time – often nights and weekends, it also created the chronic challenge of balancing work, creative activities, and life. I always saw my museum day job as separate and without any connection or relationship to my creative work (think Jekyll and Hyde). I struggled with this decision for many years before I realized how both worlds benefited each other. For example, during a difficult design phase for an exhibit about the more personal aspects of Rosa Parks as an individual, and not about the civil rights icon, my team and I struggled with how to visually tell her story. We kept considering monolithic, rectangular and often masculine design components that were in complete opposition to a petit, demur, and sometimes introspective woman who made her living as a seamstress. I found myself wondering what design elements I would use in my own artwork to highlight those personal qualities and began to explore her letters and photos, ultimately pulling colors and patterns from the clothing she made and wore. The result was a celebration of Rosa’s life supported by textile patterns that visually softened the exhibit walls, while also unifying the graphic design and branding of the exhibit. Additionally, my experience as a sculptor, metalsmith, and 3D artist also helped to inform the material feasibility and budget for all of these exhibit projects. Similarly, learning how to succinctly narrate a visual story often required skillful and sometimes painful editing of visual elements, that while beautiful and engaging in and of themselves, might not support the story. It wasn’t until I was actively involved in large scale, complex exhibition development for cultural institutions, that I started to realize the relationship between the two fields. And with that realization, I began to lean heavily into both fields to help inform successful designs in both worlds.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the constant journey of learning, exploring, and growing. There are always new challenges with materials, techniques, or narratives that keeps the journey fresh and exciting. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not always easy. In fact, there are times along with way, when I just want to give up. But the creative process of learning and improving often opens the door to whole new worlds to explore.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.werthwhilestudio.com
• Instagram: @werthwhile63
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-werth

Image Credits

Photo credits:
Pete Duval, Anything Photographic

Karen Werth