Karen Akester is an artist based in Edinburgh.
She began her early studies in Design moving to Edinburgh to study illustration at Edinburgh University - College of Art
here she happened upon the 'glass department'.. transfixed, this led to a change in vocation-completing her
Masters of Design in Glass in 2002.
Exhibiting both locally and internationally her work is
held in many private and public collections;
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh (UK) The Dan Klein & Alan J.Poole (private glass collection)
North Lands Creative, Lybster Caithness (UK); Wheaton Arts, Millville New Jersey (USA);
Bullseye Gallery, Portland Oregan (USA)
She has been invited to teach Masterclasses and Workshops at North Lands Creative, Lybster Caithness;
Bild-Werk Frauenau in Bavaria Germany, the Edinburgh Sculpture Worshop and Edinburgh University - College of Art.
Work outline
'figure pieces'
For the last decade I have worked on a series of group sculptures combining glass, bronze, aluminium and
wood. In these pieces my aim is to try to encapsulate a specific moment in time, sometimes springing from a
childhood memory which I attempt to distill into a narrative. These recollections can be both intense and vague.
I look at the complex, social groupings of children finding an individuals response to their society. The awkward,
sometimes lost looking figures can find themselves in situations both farcical and distressing. These works
infused with my own memories also borrow much from folklore, literature and found imagery of the Victorian,
Edwardian era.
I strive to capture the fragile nature of these thoughts in my work. The figures I sculpt initially in clay and wax,
are in turn cast. They can often be incomplete-deliberatly so, surfaces distressed and uneven suggesting an
incomplete picture. Here I invite the viewer to fill in the gaps and make complete a picture in their own mind -
they too can unwittingly become part of the story, evoking a response which is not always predictable..
'Jersey gang'
work outline
current projects