Karen May is a multi-media artist who practices in collage, ceramics, drawing, painting, poetry and fiber art. Often times the boundaries between mediums and styles commingle in Karen’s work. Karen shares, “Some of the things I’m making are collages, some of them are maps. What I do with the maps is I work on them and then they turn into collages. And the same with with a book.”
Karen likes to work with found text and frequently creates her own poetry throughout her daily life. She is always looking for source material for her work, saying “Like if I see a stop sign, I find some words that I don’t have on the paper and I put them there, yes. Some words I find when I’m having a nice time out with my brother. Kitty told me ‘Karen come up with a poem.’ She’s more of a poet. She said, ‘It’s going to be good for the NIAD center, let’s try it.’”
Karen’s family is deeply important to her and continues to be an inspiration for her across materials. Often she draws portraits of her mother with colored pencils or creates works for her brother. Karen uses her art as a “memory tool.” Sharing about one drawing, she says “This is a picture of my mom and me. My mom’s name was Madeleine May, my father was Wallace G May. My father and mother are up in heaven now . If I have to remember my mom I can draw a picture of my mom. One way or the other I’m always thinking of my mom.”
Another significant subject for Karen’s work are cats. She walks us through her process by sharing, “Well first I draw the head, that’s always the first part, oh you draw the body then. Then you draw the whiskers up. Last she draws in the tail.” Karen is also enthusiastic about creating cats in clay: “I made it out of clay and kitty said it looked so pretty. But also kitty told me that it wasn’t done and you needed to add a head, the eyes, also the ears, the nose and the mouth. Kitty said ‘how about a hat?”
Karen has a sharp eye for fashion and loves working in fiber arts, including dress making and doll making: “Sometimes I make fashion dresses. I try to be easy with myself. Sometimes I make a picture of something, maybe Karen or her mother or a dress.” In addition to her interest in fashion, Karen enjoys the rhythm of working by hand on a loom, sharing “One of the things she does at the center is weaving, over and under, over and under. Some of it I do by hand, I go knitting along the way.”
When asked how she would like to end her artist statement, Karen reflected, “The way she sees it is we need love in different ways. Be nice to one another.” Another idea that came to her was ending on a poem that she frequently recites, “Roses are red/violets are blue/sugar is sweet and so are you.”
// Karen’s available work //
exhibition history
Blow Like Magic In Their Face And Vanish organized by James Sterling Pitt // October 2022
Feeling Language, organized by Kate Laster // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // October 2022
Los Angeles Review of Books: “Soft Material” // September 2022
I Belong to Myself, organized by Maria Seda-Reeder // NIAD Online Exhibition // September 2022
Told Through A Line, organized by Risa Lenore // NIAD Online Exhibition // September 2022
Mash Up, organized by Kiera Lofgreen // NIAD Online Exhibition // September 2022
Question Mark, organized by Betsy Odom // NIAD Online Exhibition // August 2022
A Little Bit of Everything: Fashion & Fiber at NIAD // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // July 2022
Touching, organized by Zachary Epcar // NIAD Online Exhibition // July 2022
Color as Energy Field, organized by Chinzalée Sonami // NIAD Online Exhibition // June 2022
And Then Some… // NIAD Annex Exhibition // May 2022
Saves Nine, organized by Megan Kiskaddon // NIAD Online Exhibition // May 2022
In Love., organized by Meg Pohlod // NIAD Online Exhibition // May 2022
Quiet, organized by Matthew Pawlowski // NIAD Online Exhibition // April 2022
Can’t Be Shook, organized by Alex Gartelmann // NIAD Online Exhibition // April 2022
DreamForms, curated by Lauren Ari and Julio Del Rio // NIAD Online Exhibition // March 2022
WIN WIN 10 Silent Auction Preview Exhibition // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // February 2022
NIAD Art Center x Mills Building // Mills Building, San Francisco // February – June 2022
Holiday Gift Guide #5, organized by Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh // NIAD Online Exhibition // December 2021
Small Press Book Bazaar // SFMOMA // December 2021
Con Los Animales Estamos Conectados, organized by Christo Oropeza // NIAD Windows Exhibition // November 2021
Memory, organized by Ling Shang // NIAD Online Exhibition // October 2021
A Firmament in the Midst of the Waters, organized by Jay Youngdahl // NIAD Online Exhibition // October 2021
Ravel, organized by Danny Volk // NIAD Online Exhibition // September 2021
Every Sing, organized by Jesse Malmed // NIAD Online Exhibition // July 2021
Perfect Memory, organized by Justin Clifford Rhody // NIAD Online Exhibition // June 2021
Group Chat, organized by Kate Rhoades and Katy Kondo // NIAD Online Exhibition // June 2021
Bookends, organized by Ellen Lake // NIAD Online Exhibition // June 2021
Purple Barbara, organized by Richard Zimmerman // NIAD Online Exhibition // May 2021
Warming, organized by Good Buy Supply // NIAD Online Exhibition // April 2021
Other Side of the Rainbow, organized by Stephanie Hanor // NIAD Online Exhibition // April 2021
Words and Feeling, organized by Nicole Shaffer // NIAD Online Exhibition // April 2021
True Identity, organized by Patricia Iglesias Peco // NIAD Online Exhibition // March 2021
Draw Your Letters, organized by Danny Floyd // NIAD Online Exhibition // February 2021
The Absence Of Evidence Is Not The Evidence of Absence, organized by Christalena Hughmanick // NIAD Online Exhibition // February 2021
Road to Nowhere // selected by Eric Shiner // NIAD Online Exhibition // January 2021
Another Fine Mess Age: Anthony Grant X NIAD // NIAD Windows 2020
Through My Eyes// organized By Scott Hewicker and Cliff Hengst NIAD Art Center 2020
Good On Paper: Erin McCluskey Wheeler x NIAD // NIAD Art Center 2020
Fiberful // organized By Cynthia Ona Innis NIAD Art Center 2019
A Kind of Movement // organized by Jay Wehnert Portland Art And Learning Studios 2019
Ether Here Nor There: Anthony Grant x NIAD // NIAD Art Center 2019
L’Amérique N’Existe Pas // organized by Matthieu Morin Art Et Marges Museum Brussels 2019
CE x CG X NIAD // Minnesota Street Projects San Francisco 2019
Business Casual // organized By Maria Guzman Capron and Nan Collymore NIAD Art Center May 2019
Hailing From Parts Unknown // organized By Curtis Turner NIAD Art Center 2019
Map It // Museum of Northern California Art (monca) Chico 2019
Books, Man // organized by Mike Monteiro NIAD Art Center 2019
Redefining Contemporary Art // organized by Courtney Eldridge Depot Steamboat Springs 2019
Collective Memory: NIAD // organized by Hannah Mode 2019
Where They Want To Go // organized by Erin McCluskey Wheeler NIAD Art Center 2019
Talking Heads: Figuration From Northern California Ceramicists // Curated organized by Susan Alexander and NIAD Art Center Museum of Northern California Art (monca) Chico 2018
Exquisite Corpse: CG x CE x NIAD // NIAD Art Center 2018
It’s Complicated // organized by Kathleen King NIAD Art Center 2018
Microcosmic // organized by Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh NIAD Art Center 2018
The Genre Leaps // organized by Margaret Tedesco NIAD Art Center 2018
Reinventing History // NIAD Art Center 2018
Can Did // organized By Julio Rodriguez NIAD Art Center 2018
The Witnesses // organized by Cliff Hengst and Scott Hewicker NIAD Art Center 2017
Affinity // organized by Tim Buckwalter Museum of Northern California Art Chico 2017
We Can Do It! 2 // Hurwich Library, Alliant University San Francisco 2017
Collograph // NIAD Art Center 2017, Yali’s Cafe Stanley Hall Berkeley 2017
LA Art Book Fair // White Columns Booth, BFA Press Booth 2017
Creature Feature // organized by John Casey NIAD Art Center 2017
NADA Miami Art Fair // White Columns Booth Miami Florida 2016
Karen May // NIAD Art Center 2016
Curious Weave // organized by Ramekon O’Arwisters NIAD Art Center 2016
Cities In Mind // organized by Kathleen King NIAD Art Center 2016
Party Animals! // organized by Katie Johnson NIAD Art Center 2016
Celebrating A Vision: Art & Disability // SFO Terminal 2 2016
Adventure! // organized By Scott MacLeod NIAD Art Center 2015
Welcome To My World // organized by Chris Ashley NIAD Art Center 2015
Assemble: A NIAD Art Center Project With Nina Zurier // organized by Nina Zurier NIAD Art Center 2015
Musiquarium // NIAD Art Center 2015
City In Motion // NIAD Art Center 2014
Avatar // organized by Justine Frischmann NIAD Art Center 2014
Wild Ones // Women’s Cancer Resource Center Oakland 2014
Local Motion, Part One // Hercules Public Library 2013-14
Where Have All The People Gone? // organized by Amy Miller Village Theatre Art Gallery Danville 2013
Yes To The Dress Pop-Up Shop // organized by Peter Gravener NIAD Art Center 2013
Diamond Dogs Pet Supply Pop-Up Shop // NIAD Art Center 2103
Mud, Honey // NIAD Art Center 2013
Championship Vinyl // NIAD Art Center 2013
A Light That Never Goes Out: Continuing Traditions In Abstraction // NIAD Art Center 2013
publications
Star 82 Review Issue 10.1, edited by Alisa Golden // March 2022
Karen May: Let it be a book // TUTTO Publishers // 2021
Karen May, BFA Press 2016
press
The Editorial Magazine: Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development (July 27, 2020)
The September Issues: Revisionism (2019, Fall)
Artsy: 9 Artists To Watch At NADA Miami (2017, December)
Nat. Brut: I, Too, Like Purple (May 2017)
Artsy: NADA’s Emerging Art Community Thrives Amid Turbulent Times (2016, December)
San Francisco Chronicle: “City In Motion”: NIAD Artists Create Urban Environment (2014, May)
San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Avatar’: Exhibition At NIAD Art Center (2014, January)
San Ramon Valley Times: Disabled Artists Work On Display (2013, September)
San Francisco Chronicle: NIAD Art Center’s Gifts Of Artistic Ability (2012, December)