Karen Kay Gaul (Kay) works in acrylic painting. She’s interested in forgotten spaces, ruins, and the surfaces of materials—such as wood, iron, metals—as they age. She is captivated by what builds up and what breaks down. She also paints bright images of food, flowers and everyday objects; landscapes of spaces she loves; and sweet animals. 

Kay enjoys learning about the medium of acrylics and has worked with a variety of local teachers, including Julie Read, Tracy Grisman and Meg Kaczyk. She spent many years working with clay before she began painting. 

 

Kay’s professional trajectory was in higher education. She has a PhD in cultural anthropology and taught anthropology and Sustainability Studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, and at Hendrix College in Arkansas. She also worked as an anthropologist for the National Park Service in Alaska. Kay enjoyed connecting with campus art departments and ceramic studios wherever she taught.

 

Please reach out if you are interested in a commissioned project!