Background
She was born in 1925 in New York City, United States, where she attended art schools for children.
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Karen Karnes
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Education
At Brooklyn College she majored in design and graduated in 1946.
Career
Her garment worker parents were Russian and Polish immigrants. Karen applied and was accepted to the Louisiana Guardia High School. Karnes today makes more contemporary vessels, which are given different attention to design than her original pottery.
She still today makes many traditional forms.
Today Karen primarily fills her kilns with more contemporary forms, but she continues to produce casseroles, teapots, cups and bowls. They expressed this in their compositions and choreography, in music and dance.
While in the Carolinas, Karen Karnes became a country potter. She was introduced to potters such as Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, and local Americans Malcom Davis and Mark Shapiro.
Karen decided to live the rest of her life on a farm, working with clay and using old firing practices such as wood and salt firing.
In 1998, her house and studio burned to the ground because of a kiln fire. With the help of donations from a large pottery sale, Karen rebuilt her country house and studio. Her work is displayed in numerous galleries and permanent collections worldwide.
