about
Karen Roberson Powell

Powell received her M.F.A. at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro in 1988 with a concentration in sculpture. She pursued additional training in Italy, Wales, and England as well as the Academy of Realist Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Carving Studio in Proctor, Vermont.

In order to further develop her knowledge of bronze casting she apprenticed at the Green Mountain Fine Arts Foundry in Crowley, Texas. In 1993 she took a year’s leave from her university position to attend the Berllanderi Sculpture Workshop near Cardiff, Wales. While there she was featured on BBC television and radio for her installation at Cardiff Bay for a piece entitled "The Voyage.”

Professionally, Powell has served as an Associate Professor of Fine Art at the University of Texas at Tyler for ten years where she was Chair of the department. As head of the sculpture program she taught courses in sculpture, life drawing and bronze casting.

Powell received the Howard Scholarship in Art while a student at UNCG and also was awarded a teaching assistantship while pursuing her masters degree. She has received awards for her work in juried competitions in Dallas, Georgia and Texas.

Her exhibitions have ranged from the United States to Wales and Italy. Her works are in private and corporate collections throughout the United States. She is also included in collections in Wales, Canada and Belgium.

Of her work Powell states: “Living is balancing. Our whole life is about balance: the difficulties of reaching it, trying to maintain it and losing it. The figures in each sculpture are placed in symbolic environments, particularly architectural elements. These physical elements are tied to the individual’s home, work or spiritual life. Aesthetically, I like using the bold structural design of the stairs, steps, windows, doorways, etc. in contrast to the more organic form of the figure or the round globe. I am fascinated also by the way that, sculpturally, objects may achieve a balance in spite of inherent physical impossibilities.”