Karen Barker

When artist Karen Barker tells you, “The woods are my cathedral,” the pieces of the puzzle all snap into place: You are talking to an earth mother, a gentle, vibrant soul, capturing beauty in teeming life.
Barker works mainly in pastels, with occasional forays in acrylic, and she also makes jewelry and teaches art, cooking and even financial management.
She says she grew up “all over Arkansas,” the daughter of a school principal and his wife, a teacher. The Barkers bestowed on her the family legacy of learning, exploring and sharing. Her grandparents and great-grandparents were also teachers, so learning is just a way of life.
She began self-taught from a childlike love of exploration. Barker remembers playing with a friend’s watercolors when she was 5: “I loved them and just wanted to steal them.” By fourth grade, she knew she was going to be an artist. In sixth grade, she got an oil paint set at Christmas and won a state Garden Club poster contest with a theme of “Wings and song over Arkansas.”