Karen Lorenz online portfolio

About

I have always been interested in science and philosophy that ventures beyond the prevailing notion of deductive reasoning, I believe as we wrestle with phenomena and the perception of reality this predominantly western modus operandi based on logic, analysis and separation has lost touch with their equals intuition and feeling.

Yet there are scientists who urge us to learn from non-western philosophy which regards nature as being alive. I feel very close to the idea that every natural system has something that animates organism of all complexities, that geographic features, plants, rocks, water, etc have a soul, consciousness, an inner life. It is through my practice, a hybrid between painting, drawing, stop-frame animation and installations that I explore the human predisposition to animism.

The words of James Hillman, the founder of archetypal psychology, are very much at the core of my work in as much as,
“…animism is not a projection of human feelings onto inanimate matter, but that things of the world project upon us their own ideas and demands, that indeed any phenomenon has the capacity to come alive and to deeply inform us through our interaction with it, as long as we are free of an overly objectifying attitude.”

Statement ➤

Statement

My work reflects on the idea that any phenomenon is animated by a directing force carrying its own ideas and demands and yet capable to observe its action.  The driving force behind my work is to explore the surfacing reality of ’the other’ or otherness, the significance of which is to mediate between consciousness and the unconscious. To learn and understand through interaction with the form-giving impulse is what I strive for.

Biography ➤

Education and Training

2008/9 DCA Devon, Part-time postgraduate Diploma, Visual Performance and
   Time Based Arts Practice
2003/5 DCA Dartington College of Arts, Devon, BA (Hons) Devised Theatre
2002/3 Bath Spa University College, English Literature, Creative Writing, Drama
1981/4 Keramik Fachschule Landshut, Germany, Vocational Training
      (equivalent NVQ3) qualified ceramicist.

Practice

Since 2020 focus on participatory media.
2009 - 2020 painting, drawing, animation, sound and video installation.
2006 - 2007 project manager at Flattime House (FTHo) and the Latham Estate, 2005 – 2006 assistant of late John Latham (1921 – 2006) at FTHo and the       Latham Estate, London(Oct – Jan)
1997 – 2005 Developing drawings and artists books
1990 – 1997 Ceramicist, self-employed own workshop in Munich, Germany.

Exhibitions and Projects

2023. Engage NSA, co-curator, Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance
2022 PZ.22/CREATE, Penzance Arts Festival, Exhibition of work made during the residency at the Morrab Library
2022 Artist-in-Residence Morrab Library, Penzance, April - June 2022
2022 Memory NSA, Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance
2021 Past Present Future NSA125, curated by Lisa Wright, Tremenheere Gallery,         Penzance
2021 Looking Forward NSA, Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance

2021 Watch The Space Penzance Arts Festival 2021 - PZ.21/CREATE
2020 Edge Of Dark, NSA, curated by Jesse Leroy Smith, Tremenheere Gallery,         Penzance
2019 On Show, NSA autumn show, Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance
2019 Notes In The Garden Kate Walters and Friends, Tremenheere Gallery,         Penzance
2019 Ex Libris, NSA, curated by Ryya Bread, Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance
2019 Under The Edge Art Trail, Curated by Martin Clarke, Wotton-under-Edge,         Gloucestershire
2018 Nature, Our Nature, Terre Verte Gallery, Altarnun, Cornwall
2018 On View NSA, Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance
2019/18 Open Studio Cornwall
2018 Drawing Explored, NSA, Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance
2018 My Looking Ripens Things, Garden Room Gallery, Dartington Arts, Devon
2018 Drawing Down The Feminine, Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset
2017 NSA Critics Choice, Curated by Nicolas Usherwood,
        Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance
2017 Sketch 2017, Rabley Drawing Centre, Marlborough; Touring Exhibition
2017 Borders, NSA, Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance;
2016 Drawing Down The Feminine, Newlyn Art Gallery and The Plough Arts Centre,
2016 CMR, Cornwall Media Resource Redruth, with Kate Walters
2015 Plymouth Society of Artists, Penwith Gallery, St. Ives,
2015 You Are Here, with Philip Pierce, Artizan Gallery, Torquay, Devon
2015 The Big Draw, TAAG, Teignmouth, Devon, October 2015
2015 Experiments, Birdwood House, Totnes, Devon, February 2015
2014 The Imaginary Body, (curatorial project) Harbour House Kingsbridge, Devon
2017/14/13 Plymouth Society of Artist, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery /          Artmill Gallery Plymouth

2013 Like It/ Don't Like It/ Don't Care, (curator Kate Walters) Art Pavillion, Tower Hamlet, London
2013 Being at the Edge – The Edge of Being, Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London
2013 The Hand Also Has Dreams, Birdwood House, Totnes, Devon
2011 Contemporary Summer Open,Red Earth Gallery, Bickleigh, Devon
2009 Double Vision - 9 Collaborative Projects, with Kate Walters,
The Exchange Penzance
2009 Ithaca, (curator Stephanos Chytiris) Devon
2009 Speed and How to Obtain It, (curator Gareth Ballyn) Devon
2009 The Subversives, Society of Artists, St.Ives
2008 Women’s Work, The Link Gallery, Winchester
2007 Spontaneous Combustion 2, Society of Artist, St. Ives
2007 Brighton Art Fair
2005 Sketch 2005, Rabley Drawing Centre, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Awards and Collections

2023 DPN Digital Peninsula Network Skill development grant for Content Creation Training.
2022 Cultivator Cornwall - Mentoring grant
2020 Professional skills development grant - Cultivator Cornwall
2015 The Big Draw TAAG, prize winner
2005 Runner-up for Rabley Sketchbook Award
1993/1 Short-listed for Kulturpreis Stadt Offenburg, Germany
1991 Short-listed for Michael Maucher Prize, Germany
Collections: Landesmuseum Stuttgart, Germany (2 pieces)

Member of Newlyn Society of Artists