Karen is the consummate mother of a new era of relief printmaking. She’s the recently retired professor of printmaking at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she’d taught since 1985. Since “retiring” she’s devoted herself to operating Constellation Studios in downtown Lincoln which serves as a gallery, personal studio, and teaching space, hosting residencies and workshops. Karen came up in my earliest conversations about graduate school programs. I attended a short workshop on Mokuhanga before settling into a few experimental studio days where Karen was always available to troubleshoot and explain technical facets of her own prolific body of work. I was also able to make use of the resources in her studio library and spent valuable hours going through images and readings. Karen has traveled and taught widely and this breadth is reflected in her archives and her resources for continued education. She was also generous with answering questions about the daily operating demands and logistical minutia of running her studio. I feel lucky to have her guidance and example as I continue to navigate these questions.
