After many years of wandering the U.S. and the world, I landed back where I began: on the family farm here in northern Illinois. It's so beautiful here with plentiful wildlife and inspiring plants and trees. Nature has long inspired and informed my artwork in many media: sculpture, papermaking, photography, and for the past few years-wearable art.



This recent direction seems like a natural extension for me because I have always loved to wear jewelry, so making it to suit my vision and ideas has been fascinating. My paternal grandfather practiced lapidary for many years and I remember being mesmerized by his rock collection as a child. I still cannot resist picking up that interesting stone, shell or oddity from the pathway.

I have a BFA in printmaking from Washington University, St. Louis and an MFA in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I've been very fortunate to win 2 national and 2 state National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, a Fulbright fellowship, and many awards for my sculpture and installation work featuring handmade paper and mixed media. The Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery acquired one of my large installations in 2006 where it will be installed periodically.



I've also created artist's book for many years and these are in several collections nationally and internationally. I've worked as a professor of fine art sporadically, as the opportunity presents itself, but I'm just as happy staying mostly focused on my studio work, which is a lovely place to sort of lose myself as often as possible. I love to try new things but strive to bring focus, excellent craftsmanship, and my personal interpretation to anything I do create with the hope it will inspire, provoke, or bring pleasure to my fellow human beings.



Karen Stahlecker

Woodstock, IL 2008-11