Visible Mending

Solo Exhibition / exposition solo

Karen Goetzinger 

January 27 to March 25 2022

24 janvier au 25 mars 2022

347 rue Preston Street,

Ottawa, Ontario

The Ottawa School of Art (OSA) is pleased to feature the work of: Karen Goetzinger.

The OSA would like to thank Preston Square and Waterford Properties Group for the use of this space.

The Ottawa School of Art is an educational centre for the Visual Arts in Ottawa, providing the community with the opportunity for creative expression, development, and growth based on an orderly progression in knowledge and skills.  Within a well-defined program, the OSA offers high quality instruction to all levels through direct involvement with professional artists.

For more information on courses and programs at the Ottawa School of Art please contact us at 613.241.7471 or visit our website at www.artottawa.ca

Inquiries on these works should be directed to Cathy Brake, Gallery and Boutique Coordinator at the Ottawa School of Art: 613.241.7471 ext. 27 or by email: boutique@artottawa.ca

Karen Goetzinger is an abstract painter, who after living in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New York, resides in Ottawa. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fashion Design with an emphasis in Fine Arts from Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her work is exhibited by public and commercial galleries throughout North America. It has also been shown in exhibition spaces in China and Australia and hangs in private and corporate collections. Recognition for her work includes a 2019 ARTicipate Endowment Fund grant and 2020 exhibition award at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Ottawa. Her work has been funded by both the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts. Karen has taught at the Ottawa School of Art and by invitation in Australia and New Zealand. She was unanimously elected to the Arts Network Ottawa Board of Directors, serving two consecutive three year terms. Through my gestural paintings I aim to capture those overlooked modest moments of beauty revealed unexpectedly perhaps in the imperfect and the fleeting, but that nevertheless illuminate our humanity and our longing to connect with each other. Words rarely come easily for me, one thought splits into another and then another. Each blank canvas allows me to expressively explore the vocabulary of colour and marks as a way to record, without literal references, the thoughts, impressions, and memories of a singular day or place in time. I begin with spontaneous layers of graphite, charcoal, or ink, but after those first few freeing marks that break the surface of the canvas and give direction to the painting, each subsequent stroke and line is thought through and intentional. The abstract imagery allows viewers to interact and connect with each piece in solitary exploration of the surface. It gives them the opportunity to shift their thoughts from the daily barrage of negativity, discontent, and rants now so common in our lives to appreciating the beauty in each day waiting to be discovered. Perhaps even to finding value and contentment in what may at first seem inconsequential but is in fact essential to the human experience.