Karen Williams-Brusubardis

WB Artist Studio

207 E Buffalo St, suite 504

Milwaukee, WI 53202

Open Studio Hours: by appointment only

My Paracosm

Paracosm (para-cosm) (n) A detailed, prolonged imaginary world created by a child. The world should include humans, animals or alien creations. (definition taken from urbandictionary.com)

There is something satisfying when painting tiny shapes over and over.  It satiates. Each shape forms into a completed object, or particle, which then combines into a larger object. Each painting is a compound of these objects, glued together by a desire to create.  Particles repeat, overlap, layer, connect, weave together to make a larger object.  The particles are building blocks of color.  They have their own identity, but they also contribute to the identity of the whole.  And then, there is the space between each particle, a primordial glue that holds the world together.

My paintings are autobiographical.  They pull from memories of places or experiences that had an impact on me.   I was born in a small town in Western Wisconsin to a mixed Bolivian-American blended family. I spent most of my childhood exploring the remnants of my parent's’ retired mink ranch. I was a quiet and sensitive child on the autism spectrum with a love of exploring both the world around me and the world inside my mind. My father, of Norwegian, Scotch Irish and French descent, was a mink farmer and biology teacher who served in the Navy during WW2. My mother is a Bolivian immigrant of Indigenous American, Spanish and Lebanese descent.  My parents were 23 years apart.  Worlds apart in not only geography, generations and ethnicity, but also in personality and politics.  My paintings often reflect this blending of influences: the rural countryside, the investigation into the natural world matched with the vibrant colors and whimsical imagery embedded in Bolivian textiles and mythology.

When I was 12 years old, my father passed away.  I privately coped by falling deeper into my imaginary world, drawing and painting places that brought me to a place of healing. At the same time, my mother was forced to step into the role of father as well as mother. As a result, her Bolivian heritage naturally became a stronger influence on my identity and subconsciously, on my imaginary world.

After high school, I moved to Milwaukee to attend The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design where I received a BFA in painting 4 years later. Over the years, I’ve refined my aesthetic style of painting whimsical, yet meditative landscapes, patterned with vibrant color combinations woven together with symbolic imagery referencing ancestral connections, personal experiences and my childhood paracosm.

Education

1998 BFA - Painting, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee, WI

2000 Post-Bacc, Anthropology, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, WI

Awards

2016 Award Winner at The Midsummer Festival of Art, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI

2018 Best of 2D Category, Monument Square Art Festival, Racine, WI

2019 First Place booth, Art and Chalk Festival, Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, WI

2019 Best in Show, League of Milwaukee Artists exhibition at Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, WI

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