“Creativity is making marvelous out of the discarded!”
When Karen Honnold looks from the doors of her atelier, a billowing deciduous forest and deep ravine spread out before her providing inspiration as a painter and visual artist. Ms. Honnold gathers her artistic approach from the wildlife that occupy this woodland space. Often painting on large canvases she concentrates on flowers—the fluidity, complexity of each petal, and vibrant colors of nature. From her small rural American town, she is a world away from Egypt.
The land where Ms. Honnold resides is best known for field crops such as corn, wheat, and beans. It is such a background that has influenced Ms. Honnold, and for a time, was the home to Lesley Lababidi, international editor for the Obelisque Magazine. Having lived in the same small town where their families dwelled for many generations, the two women have maintained a friendship throughout their adult lives. It is a result of the friendship that Lesley shared her publications in Obelisque Magazine with Karen: “My life has been enriched by being exposed to the beautiful magazine, Obelisque. I have cherished each magazine and I’ve been inspired by reading about places, artists, and cultures not readily available to me. I fell in love with all of it. Everything about the magazine is aesthetically pleasing including the quality of the paper itself.”
Instead of storing the magazines in a bookcase, Ms. Honnold imagined that it would be interesting to juxtapose the paper used to write about art with something that is handmade. The colorful, glossy and substantial pages motivated Ms. Honnold to repurpose the paper and construct small bowls, dishes or valet trays through the process of folding strips of the paper. The pages are folded then wound around each other end to end. The ends are secured with glue. Each piece is coated with a white gesso that dries clear and provides a malleable surface. This process allows for the shaping of the object and gives a sheen to each piece. Small bowls evolve into round disks for wall hanging and large shallow bowls hold objects. Each bowl is unique and imperfect.
Karen Honnold’s paintings and bowls are on exhibit at the Componere Gallery of Art,
6509 Delmar Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri , USA https://www.componere.com
Paintings by Karen Honnold
All rights reserved by Lesley Lababidi. No reposting or publishing with out permission. Copyright protected. 2023.
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