My biomorphic fiber wall hangings are inspired by the lines and patterns of microscopic/cellular imagery which I find visually and metaphorically rich. All changes in essence happen on that infinitesimal level and result in the world we experience. My work is a kind of invented biology zooming in on that fundamental nature of things and bringing it into vision.
Beginning with undyed silk, wool and other fibers, I add vibrant saturated color using dye and paint as well as adding dimension and textures through the process of wet felting. Dense stitching adds lines of light and shadow and color. I love the soothing tactile pleasure of handling and creating with fiber.
In my long ago younger days, I studied art; primarily drawing and painting. After decades of detours through careers as a teacher and a psychologist, I began dyeing, felting and stitching fiber in the mid-nineties. I now make art full time at my home studio in the woods of Southern Vermont.
Gallery Representation
Karen Kamenetzky’s art dazzles the eye, the skin, the mind. Lush color, sensuous textures, and dynamic compositions combine to form organic abstractions of subatomic life. She fuses intense, unexpected color combinations with forms that are deployed in sometimes rhythmic and other times syncopated patterns. Stitching becomes the top note of her jazzy riffs on the microscopic structures of our world."
–Mara Williams, Curator
Brattleboro Museum and Art Center