It is Keizer Art Association's privilege and distinct pleasure to recognize Karen Saleen as our Artist of the month. Karen is an accomplished and recognized artist who enjoys colored pencil art.

Karen is an artist using the colored pencil medium, who grew up in Southern California, but has called Salem and the Willamette Valley home for more than 40 years. An interest in photography developed into using colored pencil to hand-color photographs since 2005. While photography is still an interest, many photos are now the references for colored pencil drawings. Since retirement in 2013 she has been seriously drawing using colored pencil. Though primarily self-taught, she has taken classes in the visual arts, colored pencil drawing and art history throughout her lifetime.

With retirement came time to pursue active involvement in art-related organizations and the Salem-Keizer art community. She became a member of the Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA) in 2013 and belongs to the Oregon and Washington chapters. Currently, she is the District Chapter Development Director for the National Governing Board of CPSA. Karen is on the Keizer Art Association (KAA) Governing Board where she serves as the Gallery Host and First Tuesday Meet-Up Coordinator.

Karen has had drawings selected to be in the CP Hidden Treasures Volumes 4 & 5 and in the March 2018 issue of Color Magazine. Her piece “Tea Party Fashion Statement” won an honorable mention at the 2018 Oregon State Fair, proving, once again, that colored pencil is fine art. As a result of that showing, she was approached by Salem Art Association (SAA) to mentor high school students who had an interest in developing their colored pencil skills. More recently, she won a coveted First Place at KAA for her piece entitled “Lion of the Sea”.

You can see Karen's art in the KAA Gallery throughout the month of April.