{"id":3692,"date":"2015-12-13T15:03:43","date_gmt":"2015-12-13T05:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/?p=3692"},"modified":"2015-12-13T15:03:43","modified_gmt":"2015-12-13T05:03:43","slug":"artchat-blog-interview-80-karen-atkins-mesmerised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/?p=3692","title":{"rendered":"ArtChat [Blog Interview #80] &#8211; Karen Atkins &#8211; Mesmerised"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb_share_1\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 10px;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"icon_link\" share_url=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/?p=3692\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><\/div><div><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div><p>\u201cMy paintings evolve from experiences and observations and explore, with romance and whimsy, the places our choices may take us.\u201d\u00a0 My personal mythology draws from traditional myths and fables and is enmeshed with stories I have lived.\u00a0 I am constantly amazed by possibilities, enormous skies and sumptuous colours and extraordinary relationships between people, animals, land and art and my aim is to convey my wonder in the everyday and the extraordinary in my paintings.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3695\" src=\"http:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ka-3.jpg\" alt=\"ka 3\" width=\"594\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ka-3.jpg 594w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ka-3-300x136.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.redhillgallery.com.au\/KarenAtkins2015.html\">Karen Atkins <\/a>joins <a href=\"http:\/\/www.redhillgallery.com.au\/EmmaSheldrake2015.html\">Emma Sheldrake<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.redhillgallery.com.au\/DeniseMurray2015.html\">Denise Murray<\/a> in &#8216;Mesmerised&#8217;. This trio of diverse, dynamic and talented artists will exhibit throughout December 2015 at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.redhillgallery.com.au\/index.html\">Red Hill Gallery.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>AC: Where do you get your ideas for your paintings from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>KA: Series of paintings emerge from different sources \u2013 a personal experience, literature, myths, songs; somehow they coalesce into an image or story that becomes my painting obsession.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AC: Is there another side to Karen Atkins, that we don\u2019t know?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>KA: For many years I competed in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.equestrian.org.au\/\">equestrian<\/a> events and am a fully accredited judge.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3694\" src=\"http:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ka-2.jpg\" alt=\"ka 2\" width=\"731\" height=\"312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ka-2.jpg 731w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ka-2-300x128.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>AC: As well as painting on canvas, you also paint on an array of objects. Where do you find these special pieces?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>KA: I love treasure hunting and recycling \u2013 giving pieces new life by turning them into art is very satisfying. Garage sales, church fairs, op shops and council clean ups, as well as friends with magpie eyes keep me supplied.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AC: What inspires you to paint the details in your paintings?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>KA: The details are the clues to the narratives and are symbolic as well as being pieces I own.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AC: What book are you ready at the moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>KA: <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.priyaparmar.com\/vanessa-and-her-sister\/\">Vanessa and Her Sister<\/a> <\/em>by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.priyaparmar.com\/\">Priya Parmar<\/a>. I have always been obsessed by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/au\">Bloomsbury group<\/a> and Vanessa Bell\u2019s house <a href=\"http:\/\/www.charleston-sc.gov\/\">\u201cCharleston\u201d<\/a> influenced my painting on furniture and textiles. I had the privilege of meeting her granddaughter while on an Artist-in-Residence in the USA \u2013 very inspiring.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3696\" src=\"http:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ka.jpg\" alt=\"ka\" width=\"735\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ka.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ka-300x110.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>AC:\u00a0\u00a0 Did you paint as a child? If so, what were you painting then?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>KA: I picked up a pencil as soon as I could grasp and started drawing horses on every surface and never stopped.\u00a0 I sold my first painting at the age of 8 \u2013 a portrait of a horse.<\/p>\n<p>Mesmerised featuring\u00a0Karen Atkins, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.redhillgallery.com.au\/DeniseMurray.html\">Denise Murray<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emmasheldrake.com\/___EM_ARTIST___\/home.html\">Emma Sheldrake <\/a>continues at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.redhillgallery.com.au\/Contact.php\">Red Hill Gallery<\/a>, 61 Musgrave\u00a0Road, Red Hill\u00a0until Sunday\u00a02o December 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9\u00a0\u00a0<a title=\"Red Hill Gallery\" href=\"http:\/\/www.redhillgallery.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\">Red Hill Gallery<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"al2fb_like_button\"><div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n(function(d, s, id) {\n  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n  js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=499790883388518\";\n  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, \"script\", \"facebook-jssdk\"));\n<\/script>\n<fb:like href=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/?p=3692\" send=\"true\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" share=\"false\" width=\"150\" action=\"recommend\" font=\"arial\" colorscheme=\"light\" ref=\"AL2FB\"><\/fb:like><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share\u201cMy paintings evolve from experiences and observations and explore, with romance and whimsy, the places our choices may take us.\u201d\u00a0 My personal mythology draws from traditional myths and fables and is enmeshed with stories I have lived.\u00a0 I am constantly &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/?p=3692\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,4,171,262,176,63,19,283,226,231,8,53,345,43,159,20,334,336,202,30,224,350,24,347,223,13,29,36,6,144,1],"tags":[181,290,121,61,9,152,14,123,15,306,295,184,129,122,120,325,293,160,296,322,124,16,64,297,67,294,299,10,312],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3692"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3698,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692\/revisions\/3698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}