Short Bio
I am an abstract landscape painter and printmaker based at studios in San Francisco and Petaluma. My works speak to the effects of climate change and specifically erosion on our Mendocino and Sonoma coastlines.
Statement
My paintings and prints are typically abstracted landscapes. I use broken and glitched imagery, a high-key palette, and lines swiped across the page to symbolize the effects of climate change that erode the landscape, warm our waters and cause catastrophic weather events. The unrealistic colors appear as a new and imagined form of beauty that foreshadows an ominous future.
Biography
Karen Olsen-Dunn has a formal education in psychology, painting/drawing, and digital media with post graduate course work in printmaking. She received her MFA from California College of the Arts in 2007 and BA in Psychology from San Francisco State 1988. She has shown her work in numerous exhibitions and art fairs locally and nationally. Her professional career in the software industry developing instructional media for products has influenced her process and works to her advantage in developing her layered mixed-media works. She is able to refine her paintings, prints, and installations by adding intricate patterns of organic and inorganic forms. Multi-colored acrylic paints and thin layers of photographic images are applied directly to birch panels building up multiple layers in a collage process to create the final work that leaves the viewer wondering what is painted and what is digital.
Resume / CV
Education
2007 MFA Painting and Drawing, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA.
1988 BA Experimental Psychology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA.
Solo Exhibitions
2018 Solo Exhibition, curated by Cathy Baum, Gallery, One Post Street, San Francisco, CA
2018 Color Magic, curated by Cathy Baum, Gallery, 45 Fremont, San Francisco, CA
2017 Fall into Color, The Gatehouse, Culinary Institute of America, curated by Nancy Willis, St. Helena, CA
2017 Hybrid Forms, 201 California Street, curated by William Torphy, San Francisco, CA. (March 4-April 29)
2017 Zaza, 543 2nd Street, curated by Marci Brand, San Francisco, CA. (February 14-April 7)
2013 Quiet, Tasteful, Not Too Busy, No Political Content: Works on Paper, Andalu, San Francisco, CA
2011 INSTANT FUTURE: New Work, Andalu, San Francisco, CA.
2010 Hybrids: Paintings and Prints, Andalu, San Francisco, CA.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Tiny Show, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023 Open Studios Exhibit: Artspan Guide Cover and 1st prize collateral winner, Somarts, San Francisco, CA
2023 deYoung Open 2023, deYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA
2023 Six Women Artists, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023 Spanning the Bay Exhibit, Sausalito Art Center, Sausalito CA
2023 On the Road, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2022 The Small Works Exhibit, Gallery 1337 Artworks Downtown, San Raphael, CA
2022 Tiny 2022, Studio Gallery San Francisco, CA
2022 Artist In Residence Exhibit, Kala Art Institute Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2022 The Modern Landscape, Danville Village Theater Art Gallery, Danville, CA
2021 Group Exhibition, Bird Dog Arts, Tejon Ranch, California
2021 Shift, Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery, Lafayette, CA
2021 Art Comes Alive, ADC Fine Art, Cincinnati, OH
2020 Art in the Time of Corona, Minnesota Street Studios and Pacific Felt Factory Studios Online Exhibit, San Francisco,CA
2020 Colorplay II, Village Theatre Art Gallery, Danville, CA
2020 Artists Annual Exhibition, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2019 Startup Art Fair Juried Exhibition, Hotel Icon, Houston, Texas
2019 Expressions Juried Exhibition, Marin Society of Artists, San Rafael, CA
2019 Print Exhibition, Sweeties Art Bar, San Francisco, CA
2018 Startup Art Fair - Small Works Juried Exhibition, Dogpatch Studio, San Francisco, CA
2018 Off-Site Exhibition: Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, 1111 Broadway, Oakland, CA
2018 Group Exhibition, curated by Heather Marx Advisory, Zuni Cafe, San Francisco, CA
2017 Serenity: Tranquil Place, UCSF Center in Women's Health, San Francisco, CA
2017 Color Play, Danville Theatre and Art Gallery, Danville, CA
2016 99 Problems (But a Print Ain't One), The Southern Gallery, Charleston, SC.
2016 StARTup Art Fair Chicago, Juried Art Fair, Mile North Hotel, Chicago, IL.
2016 Off the Wall, Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery, Lafayette, CA
2016 Group Exhibition curated by Heather Marx Advisory, Zuni Café, San Francisco, CA
2016 Artists and Les Etudients, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016 Startup Art Fair Los Angeles. Juried Exhibition, Highland Gardens Hotel, Hollywood, CA
2016 Color. Juried Exhibition. San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015 Collective Chemistry, Juried Exhibition, McGuire Office Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2015 Blue, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015 D2D, Jennifer Perlmutter Gallery, Lafayette, CA
2015 Sunset Rising, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015 StARTup Art Fair, Juried Exhibition, Hotel Del Sol, San Francisco, CA
2014 Electron Salon. Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. Los Angeles, CA.
2014 Intimate Neighbors, Printstallation. Lumostudios and Gallery. Vermillion, SD.
2010 Art of the Community Group Show. Arts Benicia Gallery, Benicia CA.
2009 Snap to Grid Show. Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (LACDA), Los Angeles, CA.
2008 Is it a Fiber Show? Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Residencies
In Cahoots Residence February 2024
In Cahoots Artist In Residence May 2023
Kala Art Institute Artist In Residence 2023
Kala Art Institute Artist In Residence 2020-2022
In Cahoots Artist In Residence April 2022
Publications
American Artwork Magazine, 2023
Destig Travel and Art July Issue 2020
Verdad Art and Literature Winter Issue 2019,
