Hi, my name is Karen Kurka Jensen, I’m a professional artist and this is my life’s work. I grew up in Minnesota among forests, lakes, granite rocks and sparkling waters. My childhood was idyllic. We were allowed to roam freely all day, returning home only for meals. Our imaginations ran wild; we were pioneers, space women (I have 4 sisters) exploring, animals living in the wild, circus entertainers and on and on it went. Every day was a new adventure. Those years expanded my vision and its where my imagination was allowed to blossom and grow. I’ve always felt at home outside. Even as a young child, I felt embraced and at the same time, could fly far afield. I sketched. Everything. Those experiences gave me my language of color, form and shape. 

I met my sumi-e teachers while performing at the Renaissance Fair in Mpls, Minnesota, over 25 years ago. They had just returned from years studying with masters of sumi-e in China. Sumi-e means “ink painting” and is the ancient art of East Asian brush painting. The first time I picked up a brush and watched as the ink spread across the ricepaper I was mesmerized. I still am. I studied with my teachers for 10 years before breaking away to develop a style of my own. I still use the traditional materials; bamboo brushes, sumi-e ink and various natural rice papers, to create my paintings. They’ve been described as “inspirational, spiritual and lyrical” abstraction.