November 2 - 29, 2001
Tuesdays - Saturdays, 11 -6

Receptions on Friday, November 9 from 6 - 8
and Thursday, November 15 from 6 - 8

Contact Karen Burke
KXBurke@aol.com
301 563 6443

Karen Burke's three-dimensional wall works are figurative images constructed as a vehicle for conveying narrative and emotion. The sculptures capture the essence of personality, whimsy and the grotesque and are often rendered with mythical imagery. Images are based primarily on people central to her own life or to those who commission her to execute portraits or scenes with multiple figures. Burke's sculptures are designed with a free play of ideas and imagination and express a revealing moment and the grotesque in everyday life.

Having spent much time overseas, Burke has been heavily influenced by the flash and wonder of Asian and European religious imagery. Burke has been particularly inspired by Asian sculpture and its decorative, fanciful use of resources: soft materials adorning stone or wood; color, gold and mirror finishes. Most of her sculpture is relief sculpture/bas relief, combining traditional portraiture with a contemporary and eccentric vision. The works are generally made in clay and then cast in multiples in fiberglass or plaster, enhanced with acrylic paint and decorative materials.

Works to be shown include portraits of jazz radio WPFW on-air personalities, Burke's two cats, Senator Tom Daschle, Burke's family and individual pieces intended for use as architectural embellishments.

In recognition of her artwork, the Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts awarded her with two grants to support travel and earn a broad education for artists. Burke graduated from the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Tufts University and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. She taught in seven colleges and museums in the Boston area, as well as in a maximum security prison for men. Since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1990, she has combined the practice of law and art in Washington, DC.