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Last updated
01/30/2022

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Karen L. Cohen

Karen's PhotoCall or text me at 845-597-8386 or email me.

Artwork was always encouraged in my family with outside classes and home projects with my mother and sister. We worked in a variety of media from painting to tile work. However, my love for fine metal and enamels started as a teen at summer camp where we had a silver jewelry activity that I pursued each summer.

Being the practical person that I am, at Ohio State University I got a degree in Education and taught high school math for three years before getting my Masters in Computer Science. I then worked as a computer scientist in development at AT&T Bell Laboratories (now Lucent Technologies), where I was awarded a patent, was published in international journals, gave a talk at an international conference and was promoted to supervisor of a development group. Subsequently, I left the Labs to run my own computer consulting company with my husband, also a computer type. During all this time, though, I never gave up my artwork and took classes in metal work and enameling at the School of Visual Arts in NYC, Peters Valley in Layton, NJ, and in private classes.

Today, in retirement, I not only continue to create but also teach, my first love. I teach adults and children (I taught at an arts camp for kids for 15 years).

I work primarily in cloisonné enameling, using leaded enamels, on fine silver for their luminosity, the depth and variety of color, and because of a love of the process. As a computer programmer, I turned complex processing into elegant software. With enamel, I embrace a similar process, as thousands of irregular grains create an object of beauty and depth, one that needs light to bring it to life. I frequently contrast transparent and opaque enamels, and add even more dimension by layering transparents over opaque or opalescent enamels while shading those transparents to create color variations.

My attention to detail and to aesthetic means that in all my jewelry, boxes, wall pieces, and sculptures (some with wearable parts), I strive to ensure that every curve is beautiful - one that is mathematically correct as from a French Curve. The work should be able to be appreciated for the entirety of its emotional quality and for each individual line. Between the lines, the grains, and the layers, I hope to create a constantly shifting resonance with my audience, a resonance they call beauty and feel as joy.

Associations:

The Enamelist Society
Enamel Guild / North East
Life Member, Peters Valley Craft Education Center
Bullet Art Center of Bonita Springs

Workshops I Teach:

Looking for an instructor to teach at your location? Click here for the classes that I teach.

I teach in my home studio - call for particulars.

John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC
Enameling, April 2013- 2022

Charmed I'm Sure Studio
Mechanicsburg PA
Enameling, October 2021


Education:

Fredricka Kulicke School of Jewelry Arts, Augusta, NJ
Peters Valley Craft Education Center, Layton, NJ
Various classes at conferences
Private classes with Lori Hollander
The School of Visual Arts, NYC, NY
M.S. -- Computer Science -- 1974, Ohio State University
B.S.Ed. -- Mathematics -- 1970, Ohio State University

Publications:

The Art of Fine Enameling, Second Edition, Second Edition, published in 2019.
bullet National Button Society Bulletin, Feb 2013, The Karen Button. I have also written other articles and given presentations on aspects of enameling.
Glass on Metal (GOM) magazine, various articles through out the years.

Jewelry Artist Magazine, July 2009, page 21    

Enameling on Metal Clay by Pam East, August 2007
The Art of Metal Clay by Sherri Haab, May, 2007
The Art & Craft of Making Jewelry by Joanna Gollberg. Lark Books Publisher, Spring 2006, pg 147
Contemporary Enameling - Art & Techniques by Lilyan Bachrach, Schiffer Publishing, 2005; page 138
"Introduction to Enamel”, pg 4, Studio PMC newsletter, Winter 2003
"Diane Almeyda 2-D Plique à jour Workshop", article published in Glass On Metal magazine, Dec 2003. Co-authored with Ora Kuller
"A Camping We Will Go", article published in The Enamelist Society newsletter, vol 1 , No. 4, Winter 2003
"Two Clays Are Better Than One", article published in Studio PMC newsletter, Summer 2000, Vol 3, No. 2 pages 6-7