“Indiana Dunes” by Karen Stanley, a Zionsville artist who works primarily in oil painting. Stanley’s work will be featured at the Southside Art League’s Off Broadway Gallery from June 4 to 29.
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The Midwest will always be in her heart.
Karen Stanley has lived throughout the central region of the country, from growing up in the Chicago suburbs to stops in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Kansas before settling in Indiana.
But throughout her life she’s developed a love of traveling, finding stunning vistas and incredible beauty all over the world.
That shines in her artwork.
“Being an artist makes me look at things differently and more consciously. Even when I’m vacationing, and not taking time to paint, I love that you can think about what drew my eyes to this and what’s so special about this particular scene,” she said. “Then the painting is a memory.”
Stanley will bring her careful eye and vivid artwork to the Southside Art League in June for a one-artist show. Her work focuses on various aspects of nature through landscapes, still life, animals and pets. The goal is to capture the spirit, color and light of a given scene or subject matter that drew her to it in the first place, she said.
“My art is a way of seeing, recognizing, and capturing the beauty of nature and magical moments to be found in both the ordinary and the extraordinary,” she said.
Stanley was inspired to start dabbling in art by her parents. Her father would do sketching and was a self-taught woodworker, while her mother painted in watercolor.
Seeing their artistic expression, Stanley started drawing as well.
“It was just something I enjoyed and found pleasure in doing,” she said.
Still, Stanley didn’t pursue a career in art. She earned her bachelor’s degree from MacMurray College before earning master’s degrees in education from Kent State University and marketing/marketing research from the University of Michigan. Over time, she worked in varying positions in higher education and marketing research.
Art remained an important part of her life, though. Stanley took classes, attended workshops to develop her style and read countless books on form.
“It never occurred to me I could do that. It was years later when I was working, and very busy, but signing up for adult education classes,” she said. “It was something I thought was worth doing and doing well, and tried to do over time.”
Her initial exposure to painting was in watercolor, but she has shifted to oil as her primary medium in the past decade. A bevy of artists have helped guide her along the way, from Kathy Anderson to Ron Mack to Donna Shortt, among many others.
Stanley has a style that had evolved over time. Her floral paintings capture the minute details of flowers and plants, while her landscapes are more loose and airy.
“It’s kind of a constant struggle — being loose is not being sloppy. It requires discipline to not go back and keep refining and refining and refining,” she said.
Stanley has been active with the Indiana Plein Air Painters Association, Sullivan Munce, and Southside Art League, where she had been featured as an artist in the past.
The upcoming show, which runs from June 4 to 29, features an array of different works, tied together with a theme looking at nature.
“It’s capturing the nature of a variety of things, and freezing them in a moment in time, keeping them visually,” she said. “I hope there are things they find engaging. There’s a shared excitement about a topic or subject matter, and that’s fun.”
AT A GLANCE
Karen Stanley exhibition
What: Original oil paintings by Stanley, a Zionsville-based artist.
When: June 4-29
Where: Southside Art League Off Broadway Gallery, 299 E. Broadway St., Greenwood
Gallery hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday
Reception: Stanley will host an open house reception from 6 to 8 p.m. June 7. Light refreshments will be served.
Information: KarenStanley.com
