Karen Wallis
Bath
Karen bears witness to the everyday world, using sketchbooks, plein air painting and sound as the basis for developing multi media work.
Karen Wallis draws and paints the everyday world, bearing witness to events around her. She is interested in how art can facilitate conversation and its potential for contributing to the research activity of other disciplines.
Her practice is rooted in observational sketchbook drawing and plein air painting, alongside recordings of conversations and ambient sound. These are developed using any appropriate media to reflect on the situation. This may include painting, digital media, sound, installation, intervention, or performance. She has also begun to publish books about her projects under the pseudonym of Avis Rara.
Since 2008 she has concentrated on residency work. Three years with The Holburne Museum, during its closure for redevelopment was followed by further projects that explore the interaction between artist and social environment, including a sound portrait with drawings of Bath Ethnic Minority Senior Citizens at Fairfield House in Bath. In 2016, a residency on the Ness of Brodgar excavations in Orkney provided the opportunity to see if she could contribute to archaeological research through perceptual drawing rather than documentation or historical reconstruction. The success of the initial four weeks has now developed into a long term collaboration with the Ness of Brodgar Trust.
A new area of work is exploring adult relationships with toys. Many people find a toy useful as a companion, a sounding board, or even an alter ego. This project examines, through artwork and conversation, the power of toys to act as another voice for the human, with the aim of promoting a better understanding of their beneficial effects.
Reading on aesthetics and philosophy informs Karen’s work, but visual practice always leads any theoretical input. Her PhD (Painting & Drawing the Nude: a search for a realism of the body through phenomenology & fine art practice - UWE Bristol, 2003) embraced a broad range of art practice in a variety of venues, supported by texts on phenomenology, hermeneutics and alterity.
Qualifications and training
2002 - Practice-based PhD in Fine Art and Aesthetics, University of the West of England, Bristol
Solo exhibitions
2017 - Matters of Life & Mud:a relationship with what’s found in the ground, 44AD Bath
2017 - Drawing in to the Ness of Brodgar, The Orkney Museum, Kirkwall
2016 - Drawn from Orkney, 44AD Bath, work at The Ness of Brodgar excavations, Orkney
2014 - Fairfield House, work made as Artist in Residence at Fairfield House
2013 - Fairfield House, work made as Artist in Residence, Royal United Hospital, Bath
2011 - Drawing The Development, The Holburne Museum, Bath
2011 - Karen Wallis: Views and Observations, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
2009 - Karen Wallis - selected & rejected, Bath Artists' Studios Gallery, Bath
2006 - Painting on TV, Hotbath Gallery, Bath
2002 - Mixing Paint, Bridport Art Centre
2002 - Painting & Drawing The Nude, PhD exhibition, UWE, Bristol
1999 - Now you see me ..., Black Swan Guild, Frome
1998 - Work arising from research, University of the West of England, Bristol
Group exhibitions
2018 - Artefacts and inspirations from the Ness of Brodgar, Stromness Museum, Orkney
2017 - Drawn from Orkney, installation at FaB2, part of Fringe Arts Bath
2016 - Royal West of England Academy Open, Bristol
2014 - Drawology: one year on, Lanchester Gallery, Coventry
2014 - Inside / Out, Studio53, Salisbury
2013 - Drawn, The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2013 - Reigning Cats and Dogs, The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2012 - The Holburne Portrait Prize, The Holburne Museum, Bath
2011 - 159th Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2010 - The Big Draw Self-Portrait Drawing Show, Chapel Row Gallery, Bath
2010 - The Holburne Portrait Prize, Chapel Row Gallery, Bath
2008 - A Collector's Cabinet, Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution, Bath
2008 - 156th Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2008 - The Holburne Portrait Prize, Chapel Row Gallery, Bath
2007 - Open View, BANA (Bath Area Network for Artists), Bath
2006 - The Three Graces Speak, in Beauty and The Beast, Stourhead, Wiltshire
2006 - Valued, The Chapel Row Gallery, Bath
2005 - Open View, BANA (Bath Area Network for Artists), Bath
2005 - paintvoxbox for Electric Pavilion, Watershed, Bristol
2004 - eak-art 'at home' in Home, curated by Eshoda Arts, Hotbath Gallery, Bath
2004 - Naked, RWA, Bristol
2004 - Royal West of England Open, RWA, Bristol
2003 - An intervention through drawing, in Belonging to Man, Frome Festival
2003 - Into the Light - BANA showcase exhibition, Hotbath Gallery, Bath
2002 - The Female Line, Sherborne House, Dorset
2001 - House Work, installation in an empty house, Bath Fringe Festival
2001 - In Theory, collaborative work as 'eak-art', Churchill House, Bath
1999 - Bedales Art and Design, Art 99, Business Design Centre, London
1999 - In House Twice, two private houses in Bath, Bath Fringe Festival
1998 - In House First Time, private house in Bath, Bath Fringe Festival
1997 - Taunton Drawing Open, Somerset
1996 - Cheltenham Drawing Open, Gloucestershire
1995 - Artist as Teacher, Hot Bath Gallery, Bath
Commissions include
2017 - Dorchester Shire Hall – visualisations to illustrate the interactive ‘Court Reporter’game
2017 - A New Portrait for Bath: one of six commissions with school leavers, at The Holburne Museum, Bath `
2012 - EVA Artist’s commission, a sound portrait of Fairfield House, for Aune Head Arts, Devon
2005 - paintvoxbox–a ‘call & response’project, interacting with viewers’comments on art, for Electric Pavilion an online celebration of Bristol hosted by Watershed, Bristol
Portrait commissions in drawing and painting
Live/Performance
2009 - paintvoxbox Offline, Creative Practice/Creative Research Conference, York St John University
2008 - Interactive call and response drawing, Art in Action, Oxford
2007 - paintvoxbox offline tour, Launched at The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath
2007 - The Three Graces Go Live, eak-art in Bath Fringe Festival, Bath
2006 - The Three Graces gallery visits, eak-arts critiques of exhibitions
2004 - Graceful Moments, eak-art in Bath Fringe Festival, Bath
2004 - Interventions in a pleasant manner, eak-art at Interdisciplinary Landscapes conference, University College Northampton
Recent Artist talks
2022 - Drawing Archaeology, Chepstow Archaeology Society
2017 - Artist's Residency on the Ness of Brodgar, Bath & Camerton Archaeology Society
2016 - Artist's Residency on the Ness of Brodgar, 44AD, Bath
2016 - Work in Progress as Artist in Residence on the Ness of Brodgar, Pier Arts Centre, Stromness
Recent Papers at Conference
2019 - 6B 6H: where drawing meets archaeology, for Creative Minds at Middlesex University
2018 - 6B 6H: where drawing meets archaeology, in the panel Drawings Of, Drawings By, and Drawings With... at the RAI/British Museum/SOAS conference on Art, Materiality & Representation.
2018 - Drawn to Orkney: an artist’s residency with archaeology, at Medical Artists Association Conference
2015 - Incidental Conversations, at Drawing Conversations: reflecting upon collective and collaborative drawing experiences - Coventry University
Residencies
2016 - to date Artist in Residence at The Ness of Brodgar archaeological excavations, Orkney
2013 - RWA Drawing Lab residency, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2012 - EVA project commission for Aune Head Arts, with Bath Ethnic Minority Senior Citizens Association (BEMSCA) at Fairfield House, Bath
2012 - Ghosts in The Garden, Splash & Ripple and UWE History Dept, The Holburne Museum
2008 - Drawing The Holburne Museum of Art, The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath
Projects
2022 to date - The Power of Toys, exploring the benefits of adult relationships with toys
2016 to date - Ness of Brodgar residency, investigating how perceptual art can contribute to archaeological research
2013 to date - Daily Drawing Journal published on Facebook
2007 - paintvoxbox offline, various art venues, Bath, Bristol and beyond...
2006 - paintvoxbox for Beauty and The Beast, Hotbath Gallery with The National Trust, Stourhead, Wiltshire
2005 - paintvoxbox, for Electric Pavilion at Watershed, Bristol
2001 - 2011 collaborative interventions in a pleasant manner, eak-art, online at www.eak-art.co.uk
Awards
2016 - The Artists Information Company, Travel Bursary for Ness of Brodgar Artist's Residency
2016 - Arts Council England Grant for the Arts, for Ness of Brodgar Artist's Residency
Educational experience - tertiary
1996 to 2005 - Visiting Lecturer in Painting, Drawing and Visual Culture, University of the West of England, Bristol
Site specific
2006 - Shopping bags, eak-art at South Central, Southgate Shopping Centre, Bath
2005 - Old (shopping) Bags, eak-art in Bath Fringe Festival, Bath
2003 - Permission to Picnic, eak-art in Queen Square, Bath
Publications
2022 - Bearing Witness To Dying: pub Tracey Vol 16 No1: Drawing and Loss
2017 - Ness of Brodgar Sketchbook 2016, the story of the first residency at the Ness of Brodgar, pub. Avis Rara
2017 - Current Archaeology: Drawn to Orkney, on the experience of drawing the Ness of Brodgar excavations
2017 - Drawn to Orkney, article for Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society, Camertonia
2015 - The Art of Sketchbook Drawing, Article for New Artist.
2014 - Fairfield House: Drawings and conversations from an Artist’s Residency
2014 - The Power of The Sea, drawings made during the exhibition at RWA, Bristol
2012 - A Purpose for Purposelessness? Seeking a role for perceptual drawing in historical research. Published in The Regional Historian journal, UWE, Bristol
2012 - Illustrations for Ghosts in The Garden booklet, by Steve Poole for Splash and Ripple
2011 - Drawing The Development, an account of an Artist's residency at The Holburne Museum
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