Karen Antos is a quilt-maker-turned-painter. Where she once used fabric and rulers to create geometric designs, she now employs brightly-colored, thick oil paint to produce impressionistic landscapes, cityscapes and abstracts. While she still makes quilts on commission, she is really following her bliss when she paints.
With quilting as the medium, it was at her grandmother's knee that Karen first began expressing her artistic talent as a child. She acquired extensive experience with the manipulation of pattern, texture and color to achieve her vision in fabric. Later as a teen, she came under the wing of Dick Mason, an influential and beloved friend who ultimately moved on to become an acclaimed Santa Fe artist. Karen credits him with introducing her to the visual fine arts. Her studies to earn a B.A. from the University of Kansas included art history.
Karen's first professional work in art was in the arena of interior design. Dallas designers commissioned her to create custom, fabric wall-hangings for their clients. For 15 years while her daughter and two sons were growing up, Karen gave private art lessons, taught high school art, exhibited her art quilts and sewed for decorators. Periodically accompanying her husband on both business and pleasure trips abroad, she has been afforded the opportunity to view master artwork firsthand. She established a correspondence with noted painting instructor Gloria Foss who has furthered Karen's understanding of color theory and oil technique. Consequently, she has gradually shifted her attention toward professional painting, using the palette knife method predominantly since 1996. Her studio is in Addison, Texas (greater Dallas).
Annually Karen exhibits in juried art fairs in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. She is the recipient of 14 painting awards and has shown her work in a variety of group and solo exhibitions. A significant part of her business has become commission painting for both private and commercial clients. In Dallas she is exclusively represented by Rutherford's, 5417 W. Lovers Lane. Permanent public collections including her paintings are Truckload Corporation, Cla-Val Co., Mimo's Restaurant, Summer Ridge Retirement Village and Town of Addison.
Jim Humphrey, gallery owner and artist, writes:
Karen’s sense of color and composition, presented in her powerful style, communicates and appeals strongly to the emotive side of us all.Texas T-Shirt Quilts (texastshirtquilts.com) is also a business that Karen owns and operates in partnership with her daughter Becky.