Karen L. Cohen

Call 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.

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 comple 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.