Karen Baldner – Bio

( bio / statement / work )

Karen Baldner was born in 1952 and grew up in West Germany, where she began her studies in the visual arts. She completed her formal studies in the US with a Masters degree in Printmaking from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Karen has taught printmaking, papermaking, drawing, and book arts at the University of Arkansas/Fayetteville, Bucknell University/ Pennsylvania, Indiana University/Bloomington, St.Mary’s College of Maryland and currently teaches book arts, papermaking and drawing at Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her work is inspired by the dynamics of life’s paradoxes and is based in a variety of media ranging from large scale drawings, installations of handmade paper structures, collaborative installations, experimental book structures and small editions of artist books. Some of her projects pursue an interest in the communicative productivity of visual work such as the “Bloomington Breast Project” (an on-going collaboration with her hometown of Bloomington, Indiana) and “The Jewish/German Dialogue Project” (a collaboration with Religious Studies scholar and friend Bjorn Krondorfer). Karen’s work has been supported by Fulbright and NEA Grants as well as state grants from Arkansas and Indiana. She shows extensively throughout the US and Europe and has been a member of Soho20 since 1992..