She designs, fabricates and custom-makes wearable art and small sculpture; her primary mediums are sterling, fine silver and 14K and 18K gold. She loves the beauty of mixed metals and appreciates the practicality of upcycling metal. Her favorite methods include -- but are not limited to -- fold forming, forging, texturing and more.

Karen is a self-taught metal artist though she had the unique privilege of studying with a master goldsmith in Dakar, Senegal. She is also an arts educator and has created We Wield the Hammer, a training program to teach this artistry/vocation to young women and girls of African descent. Inspired by her time in West Africa and the unique experience of being the only woman metalsmith around, Karen’s work continues to be inspired by the incredulous faces of girls and women who were awestruck by a woman wielding a hammer.

Karen works with hammers, fire, files and saws; living and working as an artist is the best job she’s ever had. Her work, like her life, has been both minimalist and maximalist. Elements of her Buddhist practice can be seen in her kinetic rings designed to encourage and support meditation. Her heritage as African/American informs textile-inspired pieces popular in both West and East Africa. The masks so prominent in her wearable art represent self-reflection, an appreciation of beauty and joy in spirit. Her art is informed and infused by her woman-self, her black-self, her Buddhist-self, her aging-self. Her circles and curves and textures represent power and light and the feminine. Karen’s art, and her service, is dedicated to her mother who often encouraged artistic pursuit because it brought them both joy.