From Top Left Corner:
Map of the Southern Projection (detail), 2015, Collage, Stitched Paper, Ephemera, 20”x20”;
The Sun and 8 Planets, 2011, Collage, Stitched Paper, Ephemera, 11”x15”;
Artist Karen Hendrickson Santospago;
Her Sewing Machine at Work;
The Earth and 1 Moon, 2010 (detail), Collage, Stitched Paper, Ephemera, 11”x15”;
Saturn and 62 Moons, 2010, Collage, Stitched Paper, Ephemera, 11”x15”;
1235 Planets/6 Possibilities (detail), 2011, Collage, Stitched Paper, Ephemera, 22”x30”;
Map of the Southern Projection (detail), 2015, Collage, Stitched Paper, Ephemera, 20”x20”;
Parallel Lines, 2010 (detail), Collage, Stitched Paper, Ephemera, 11”x15”
Karen's Studio
“I draw with the stitched line – a dashed line, permeable, tentative, ephemeral… the line is barely there yet it actively pierces the page, runs over the paper trapping bits and pieces. The line is a force...”
...The stitched lines traverse the planes of the paper altering the surface by piercing and puncturing, trapping bits and pieces of the artist’s collected ephemera on the page as they go (vintage maps, stock certificates, lottery tickets, correspondence, illustrations); leaving an indelible record of their travel.
Born in 1977 in Western Connecticut, Karen Hendrickson Santospago studied Fine Arts at Massachusetts College of Art and Design graduating with a bachelors degree in Fiber Arts followed by a Masters of Fine Arts in Design from Boston University. She has participated in group shows and exhibitions at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the Arlington Center for the Arts, Boston Public Library, and Boston University, and is collected privately. Honors include the Constantin Alajalov Fellowship from Boston University, and a Librarian’s Choice Award/Best in Show from the Boston Public Library. Karen is also a graphic designer – she lives and works just outside of Boston with her musician husband, Andy Santospago, their two sons, and a cat, Olive.
Karen’s current project–The Projections–is a four part series of map collages inspired by the centuries old drawings by early astronomers. This work is a contemplation on the past, present and future; speaking to technology and perhaps more importantly to universal themes that transcend time and space: the very nature of life itself, our solar system and the universe.