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The Journey of an Artist
Interview by Julie Russell Beebe

Karen Chew is a woman succeeding in an area where most people give up.

Karen was disguised as an ordinary person in black pants and a blue sweater when she walked into my living room.  I had met her only once before, and surprisingly we fell into conversation easily despite being nearly strangers.  In a moment you grasp she is spirited and wise.  Over the last three years she has discovered her artistic talent in painting.  She has created and sold watercolor and oil paintings.  Her style and use of color are intriguing and delightfully unpredictable.  She creates human figures with depth and character; she creates landscapes that throw you into a journey, and she creates abstracts with bold shards of color that could easily adorn a gothic church window.  I am amazed that these all come from one painter.

In addition to paint, this gifted woman creates through architecture, teaching, and writing. 

In the decades before Karen began painting on canvas, she integrated art into her daily life without labeling it art.  “It was just crafts,” she says.  Crafts of all kinds caught Karen’s attention.  “It was so clear,” she explains one of her first craft ventures, “ducks…and…bunnies!” She laughs, remembering the phase where she made ceramic ducks and rabbits to line the entranceways to everyone’s houses. Then she found her way into ceramic jewelry.  She recounts that “once [I] started moving towards crafts I wanted to try everything!”

Her voice becomes more animated as she recalls her journey though crafts.  She tried “airbrushing on t-shirts and sweatshirts – Flashdance stuff - take off the collars and trims and spray stuff all over the place!”  She played with bath salts, herbal creams, and aromatherapy products.  At the start of each new craft she thought “I’ll do this for my LIVING!”  For example: “Bath salts!  Everyone needs bath salts!”  And then “Soap!  Yes!  It’s the product of the year!” 

Her crafts began evolving – she created jewelry using Japanese and Asian papers, eventually selling her hand crafted origami jewelry.  “I had some really good success,” she says when she sold these creations to Nordstrom.  “I learned retail and wholesale – it’s fascinating.  It’s competitive and it just becomes a product.  I had to learn to detach myself and learn the difference between creating something and selling and marketing it.”

She’s had criticism along the way that crippled her at first.  She recalls a damaging experience at an art show where her crafts were displayed.  A man came up, attacking her creations by saying that they looked like “dime store baubles”.  Karen was stunned. “This is really hurting my feelings,” she says, as if this was happening in the present.  “I stopped doing shows after that,” Karen recalls. “I [sold crafts] through people that would represent me in boutiques – ways that were safer.  I couldn’t put myself out in the public for a long time.”  It was only after she started the process of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way that she discovered that block. 

Although Karen doesn’t feel like she’s done crafts for long, Karen’s “aunties” remind her of the handmade Christmas gifts they’ve received for the last 25 years.  In addition to Karen’s unintended career in crafts, she spent her high school years in accounting jobs.  At one point she thought accounting was the career for her, later changing her mind for pre-med as she entered UC Berkeley.

Pre-med lasted about one semester when she – and her counselor – recognized she just didn’t have the grades.  She transitioned to architecture and art.  A part of her craved art, but knew it wasn’t parentally acceptable. She majored in architecture, finishing in 1982. 

Karen’s first seven years out of school were spent working for a local architect/engineer who taught her “the good, bad, and ugly” about the world of architecture.  She then left the private sector to work for local government.  She tells, “As a building inspector, I learned how the two-dimensional architecture drawings became three-dimensional structures. I learned about the world of government, politics – more good, bad, and ugly!” 

“Come springtime 1997 my second seven-year itch needed scratching and I needed to leave this job in order to save what was left of me. That's when I made a return to architecture because it was something I was familiar with.”

In 1997, Karen transitioned to self-employment in architecture.  Crafts always lingered in the background while architecture paid her rent.  She says about the transition: “While that silly notion of guilt was making me think I should take on more projects, I knew I couldn't burn myself out like many of my design peers. I've seen what burnout's done - yuck.”

She was ready for more change late 1998.  She learned a friend was going to Italy for a semester to study abroad - and decided to visit her.  Her dilemma was that she wanted to stay longer than she could justify imposing on her friend.  The solution came from a web site:  a ten-day art program.  It was located close to her friend in Florence. 

It was this experience that changed Karen’s life: she learned to express herself in charcoal and paint outside in a Tuscany orchard that overlooked an expansive vineyard.

She recalls:
“The Dievole experience was intense! We worked from about 9:30-10 am to dark, taking a lunch break if or when we chose. We took one day to travel to nearby Siena to draw and paint, and one day to Firenze to see the paintings at the Uffizi. I almost lost it when I saw the Botticellis. That was one of the most intense experiences I've ever had.” 

She describes her teacher, Louise Freshman-Brown as her “artistic midwife” – she was the one who taught her to draw, to see.  Louise is a professor at the University of Northern Florida and teaches periodically at the acclaimed New York Academy of Art.

I asked her what happened when she returned from Italy.  She replied,  “I got homesick immediately!  My newfound friends helped me transition because I knew they would always be there for me.  My trip ended right before the December holidays in 1998.  I immediately got to work on my holiday gift making, which was a photo journal of my trip including some thoughts, recipes, and what I was going through.  I also created my own scrapbook of Italy, too, when the moments were still fresh.  It kept me focused on my joy.  Then I started writing.”

She describes her transitions into art as “fast and furious”.  She tells me, “[I] thought it was the way to go - let architecture pay for bills, find a way to paint, while taking writing classes. My intentions were to transition into writing then let the writing pay the way to more art classes.  [I was] still thinking old patterns of ‘I must create money in a culturally and socially acceptable manner’. I didn't own being an artist yet.” 

She continues: “This journey of mine - well, I sure didn't take the Evelyn Wood course in efficiency and stress-less decisions. Change, change, change, shift, shift, shift - seems to be my calling card.”

Karen took a few classes in watercolor and figure drawing and submitted a screenplay treatment that was rejected by the company she wanted to work with.  She recounts that her paintings were ever-evolving and “a direct translation of her soul’s work.”

Karen’s teacher from Italy suggested that she look into teaching to create steady income.  “I asked my summer art class teacher and he was a little nasty, telling me that I had to have an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) to teach. The information wasn't nasty, but his attitude was. I was hurt, but then I took the energy and focused it on what to do next. I researched, looked into local MFA programs, looked for other opportunities to teach. I sent out inquiry letters. Within days, I heard from the Learning Annex, Berkeley Extension and a few others. I also looked to return to teaching private workshops on creative process and art. [It was] another way to teach.”

Karen taught her first class "Your Creative Genius: How to Unleash, Train, and Guide It" in November 2000. She described it as “a super energetic day filled with wonder, surprises, and incredible artwork.”   Since then she’s taught a few more classes on drawing and creativity and is teaching a class on remodeling in March. 

I ask her about her first painting sale.  “I almost forgot,” she tells me, “I keep thinking that it was at the summer art show [in 2000], but it was earlier - back at Dievole. Towards the end of the drawing and painting workshop, Louise critiqued and chose our best 3-5 drawings and paintings and hung them in the hall of the main Villa of Dievole. We had our opening after dinner that evening.  Two people were interested in the same painting and I sold it to the first customer. It was neat - I was surprised as it was my first attempt at watercolors and at painting.”

Karen sold her first oil at her first American art show.  “During the summer of 2000, one of my newfound art class friends invited me to be in an art show for new artists. I balked, declined, and then after some thought, I decided to just go for it. I, with 10 other artists, showed my work at the Page Mill Winery in August. I began to slowly sell my work. One at the show, one or two at home. Things began to pick up speed.  Momentum seems to grow each time I sell. It’s an energy thing!”

I surprise her with the question: “When were you comfortable calling yourself an artist?”  She visibly recoils.  The answer comes slowly.  It seems it took a while before she was comfortable being responsible for her art, and truly owning what she created.   She felt awkward printing it on business cards at first.  And she was decidedly uncomfortable introducing herself as an artist.  She made the transition safer by starting off introducing herself as “an architect and artist” but it was immediately apparent to her that “artist” was what people responded to.

Now Karen is focusing her attention on “creating or further supporting existing art programs, and then to look at legislation changes. Art and music should be in every school, everyday.”  Karen’s dream is to create an art program with classical training in the fine arts, music, voice, and performing arts that will provide a solid foundation to kids. She doesn’t know precisely how she’s going to do this yet, but maintains, “Anything is possible!”

When I asked Karen what she most wanted to communicate in this article, she gave me these parting gifts:

“The most important message [I could give beginning artists] is one of Love - our guidance systems are geared to this healing energy. In an open, loving state, we become incredible channels. When our thoughts, words, and our actions are loving, we resonate and connect to true Source.  Ego falls, love resides. Magic occurs. 

“Pursue the dreams that fuel your curiosity, your need to share, and your passion. Can one of these dreams be of service to others? Does it call to your soul? Think big, no playing small. Rejoice in Marianne Williamson's A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles.  Learn and live The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz.  Live Simpler.  Laugh more, play more. Get out of your own way. Find teachers. Take small steps if you have to. You know you're doing what you love when time seems to fly by.  Love.  Practice.  Love more.”

May 6, Sunday, 2pm -5pm, Runnymede Sculpture Farm Event, a benefit with wine tasting, food, auction, and our art. 
To reserve tickets, call the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association, at 831.479.9463.

Mid-May, Karen will have a solo show in Palo Alto.

June 24, Noon -5pm, Pichetti Winery Show, 13100 Montebello Road,
Cupertino. 408.741.1310

And future shows in July, September, and November.  

For more information, email "submissions at berealmag dot com"