About the Artist

KAREN GAUSCH  Artist’s Statement and Bio      

Inspired by the coastlines of New England, I am attracted to the geographic edges where water, land, and sky converge.   I experience these places as tranquil and meditative, as well as powerful and inspiring.  At times, the transitional elements recall origins of survival, solitude, contemplation, and rejuvenation.  Like the natural elements of the subject, I approach these paintings with the drama I feel in nature.  Using expressive and gestural applications of acrylic and encaustic paint on canvas, panels, and paper, I manipulate layers and surfaces to suggest imagery of vast, dynamic, and fluid seascapes.

In the 2025-2026 Encaustic series of paintings, I explore the complexity of sand dunes and pathways through an act of sustained, close looking of coastal ecosystems.  These places may appear at first as soft rises of sand, sparse grasses, faint paths, but prolonged attention reveals a dense network of relationships, subtle shifts in color, texture, movement of wind, the persistence of plant life, and the passage of time.

I invite the viewers to slow down and attend to what is easily overlooked, as these paintings become less about depicting a place and more about practicing attention.  I am exploring moments of looking that reveal how even the most seemingly spare environments are layered, active, and alive.

I experience these images as both subject and metaphor. They are a marker of human presence and a reminder of its impermanence.  Edges soften, grasses reclaim, and footprints disappear, echoing the transient nature of passage. Through layered textures, subtle color shifts, and an emphasis on expressiveness, the work offers quiet reflection of the ever-changing relationship between people and the beauty of the natural world.

My painting process is itself a form of meditation and the byproduct of different mediums and layering techniques.  Some works are created with acrylic paint, and others use encaustic paints, which entails adding colored pigments into a melted wax medium.  I work the surfaces quickly and with intention while also inviting chance, letting the materials drift images into existence. During the process of layering, brushing, heating, and scraping, coastal references take shape.

Starting my career, I earned degrees in Painting and Ceramics from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY, and studied at Rhode Island School of Design.  Having worked for renowned museums and corporate collections in New York and Boston for over thirty years, in exhibitions, collections management, and preventative conservation, I live, work, and play surrounded by the beauty of art.

Please visit my website:    www.karengausch.com

Exhibitions and Installations

2025                     Provincetown Art Association & Museum, PAAM, Provincetown, MA.

                             Member’s Small Works Exhibition  Nov 21, 2025 – Jan 11, 2026

                              AMZehnder Gallery, Wellfleet, MA.

                             Encaustic Show (w/Cherie Mittenthal and Patricia Busso)  Sept 25 – Oct 6, 2025

                               Castle Hill Gallery, Truro Center for the Arts, MA .

                             “RESIST, CREATE, LOVE”   Juried Exhibition May 27-June 6, 2025

                               Castle Hill Gallery, Truro Center for the Arts, MA.

                             “Where Do We Go from Here” Juried Exhibition July 21-August 1, 2025

2021-2024            AMZehnder Gallery, Wellfleet, MA

                                                      “Dune Scenes” Exhibition

                                                      “Water Scenes” Exhibition

                                                      “Coastal Impressions” New Encaustic Painting

                                                      “Magical Small Works” Holiday Season Show

                                                      “In the Light: Beach Scenes” Exhibition

2021-2022            Thalassa, A Love Letter to the Sea, Pop-up market and an online experience.

2019                      four eleven gallery, Provincetown MA “New Friends” Exhibition

2018-to present    The Corporate Art Loan Program at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA.

2018                      Vee Vee American Fare Restaurant, Jamaica Plain, MA.  Solo “Summer” Installation

2017                      Melrose Arts Festival, Melrose, MA.  “Arts in April”

2014                      Provincetown Art Association & Museum, PAAM, Provincetown, MA

                               Member’s Juried Exhibition

2013                       Wellfleet Library, Wellfleet, MA.  Herring Cove Preservation Exhibition

2010                       Centre Street Café, Jamaica Plain, MA.  Solo “Autumn” Installation

2006                       All Saints’ Parish, Brookline, MA. Solo installation, Guild Room Art, installation, 2006

2004-2009             South End Open Studios, Boston, MA.  Washington Street Industrial Buildings

Private Collections in New England and Offices in the Boston Area.