Inspiration Studios welcomed award-winning collage artist, Karen Loper, from her Madison home to West Allis on Saturday. Her contemporary folk art collage exhibition entitled “Trash Interrupted” is currently adorning the gallery walls at Inspiration Studios through February 28.
Loper will spend time explaining and demonstrating her creative process during open gallery hours on Saturday, February 20, 11:00am-3:00pm.
Since completing her career as an art teacher, Loper’s mission has been to create innovative, high quality collages and assemblies from rescued, recycled industrial materials.
“Years ago, I had a boring job,” said Loper. “The place discarded lots of unusable carton shipping labels and other packaging. Coming from a long line of “makers,’ I rescued materials from the trash. Using my artistic instincts and the company’s penknife, I made 4x6 label-sized artworks. This led to larger pieces, enhanced by the trashed address labels and sticker backgrounds.”
Growing up on a farm outside of Dane, Loper lived in a valley with hills around her. Her art history coursework, as part of her teacher-training program, included studies of old time European etchings. The influences of childhood memories and adult studies are very evident in the landscapes that she creates.
Inspired by the unblended quality of Impressionism and by Oriental prints and scroll paintings, Loper has created award-winning art. She participates regularly in fairs and contests throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. She was juried into the Green Exhibition of upcycling artists at Evanston, Illinois. She earned a “Round of Applause Award” from the Senior Center of Madison, as well as several awards at the Encore Exhibit in Baraboo, whose focus is art from recycled items. Her appreciation for science fiction led to a recent WisCon Science Fiction Convention entry, which earned her the “Most Politically Correct Award.”
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“My work has a whimsical, fantastic look containing animals and birds in Oriental-inspired landscapes,” said Loper. “I am an intuitive artist; pieces just seem to ‘belong.’ There isn’t a way to explain why that is so. It just is.”
Visitors of “Trash Interruped” will find themselves immersed in the details of the landscapes.
