Karen Z. Ellis

My life-long love of drawing, painting, and printmaking along with my 20-year career as a teaching artist has cultivated a deep sensibility in the visual arts and nurtured my creative responses to the natural world all the while encouraging creativity in others. I often say, “Dive in! The way to draw is to draw,” and I am even convinced that “Art saves lives.”

Karen studied at Northwestern University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts (BA) with an emphasis in Art History. After college, Karen was employed full-time at the Art Institute of Chicago for 3 years where she simultaneously furthered her art education through courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She then continued her studies at the University of Hawaii-Manoa for 3 years where she earned her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) with an emphasis in Drawing and Printmaking.

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As part of the culture of teaching-artists working in Central Oregon, Karen has been active in the arts community since the 1990s. Sisters Art Club, SOAR, the Art Station, and Caldera were early teaching experiences, but her primary field has been as Instructor in the Department of Fine Arts and Communication at COCC (teaching Studio Art and Design classes along with Art Appreciation classes from 2006 to the present). Karen also taught a wide variety of undergraduate Art courses at OSU-Cascades (from 2011-2021).

To learn more about Karen visit her blog HERE.