Previous Artist
Over the last several years, my work has used nature (plants, trees, and their fruits) as the subject matter to explore the workings of the natural world and to function metaphorically for social situations and human relationships.
In the series "B.C. Natives and Immigrants", the plants and trees many times took the place of people, or represented their desires and expressions of identity. This series was followed by "West meets East", which used the Bonsai ideal to contrast Western and Eastern ideas and aesthetics, and by "Family Trees" which dealt with personal history and social structures.
Recently, I have been specifically concerned with the pressures of adaptation, and the subsequent modifications and metamorphoses that take place. Constantly faced with stimuli, whether we acknowledge or deny it, we, and nature, are under constant pressure to react, reflect and adapt. These are pressures which require change. Whether physical or mental, they modify and transform reality. They change the structure of self and social identification. And they stimulate activity, which in itself, apart from judgments of good or bad, remains a primary indicator of life.
The process requires the visualization or the creation of structures and schemes that express and facilitate the changes. Visualization is dependent upon how we mold the world (natural and artificial) according to our needs, and how, ultimately, we are constrained to develop the structures to express ourselves from those existing. This complex relationship creates new systems and forms, involving invention and metamorphosis, both personal and social.
As with nature, the effectiveness of the change is unknown, until tried against the environment. My paintings mix, manipulate and distort the natural characteristics of the plants, their growth pattern, their color and their form, with their symbology and mythology to produce hybrids which, in all their naturalness, are really constructions.
Painting is a process of abstraction and visualization, even if the subject is naturalistic. My paintings should not be looked at as merely imitating nature. The works represent and function on many different levels, similar to the dynamics between acts and meanings, forms and significance, in any relationship. As occurs in our everyday experiences, these constructions are not so obvious at first, but reveal themselves slowly as they pass through our various filters of reality.
Karen Yurkovich now lives between Perugia, Italy and Vancouver, Canada. She has recently completed two solo shows in Vancouver and in Edmonton, and is represented in the first Biennial in Merano, Italy, "DNArt". She continues to teach, with a special interest in traditional techniques and non-toxic methods in oil painting and anatomical drawing.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2001
- Love KNots, Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle,
September - Change of Season, Bau – Xi Gallery,
Vancouver, January
2000
- Family Trees, Linda Hodges, Seattle, September
1999
- A Single Line, Diane Farris,Vancouver, November
- West Meets East, Linda Hodges, Seattle, July
1998
- B.C. Natives and Immigrants, Richmond Art
Gallery, June 25 – August 3
1998
- B.C. Natives and Immigrants, Diane Farris,
April 30 – May
1997
- The Elements, Diane Farris, Vancouver, April
1995
- Gli Elementi, La Sala del Grifo e del Leone,
Il Palazzo dei Priori (the public gallery of the City of
Perugia), Perugia, Italy, November
1994
- Sala Giulia Gens, Roma, Italy, March
- Bugera Kmet Gallery, Edmonton, November
1993
- Bugera Kmet Gallery, Edmonton, May
1992
- Woltjen Udell Gallery, Edmonton, April
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2001
- Plant Life, Paul Kuhn, Calgary, Summer
1999
- Sur la Table, Diane Farris Gallery, Vancouver, April
- Still Life, Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle, January
1998
- Denise Roberge, Palm Desert, California
1997
- Artropolis
- Seattle Art Fair
1995
- 40 Celsius … A Survey of the Visual Arts
in Edmonton, Commerce Place, October 5 to 28
1994
- Italian Renaissance Art: A Perspective, Black
and white photographs and critical texts. Jointly with
Professor Jorge Frascara. Fine Arts Building Gallery,
1993
- University of Alberta, Edmonton. March. Dr. T. M. Nelson
used the conceptual material in the fall of 1993
for a discussion seminar of his course in Environmental
Psychology, University of Alberta.
1992-1
- Actual Possibilities, Jointly with E. Aoki. Fine Arts
Building Gallery, University of Alberta January - Six Painters, Woltjen Udell Gallery, Vancouver, May
- Spring Show, Woltjen Udell Gallery, Edmonton and
Vancouver, March - Some New Alberta Art, Edmonton Art Gallery, June to September
- Art For All, Edmonton Art Gallery, April
EDUCATION
Master of Fine Arts (1990), Bachelor of Fine Arts (1987),
Department of Art and Design, University of Alberta.
RESEARCH
1999
- Vancouver Foundation grant to study scagliola and
plaster casting in Italy.
1998
- Trip to Rome to copy Judith decapitating Holofernes
by Caravaggio, pertaining to research on technique and
non-toxic methods of oil painting.
1996
- Permission granted by the Louvre to copy Diseuse
de bonne aventure by Caravaggio, pertaining to research
on technique.
1995
- Received scholarship from the Alberta Heritag
Scholarship Fund for Career Development to study four
weeks in Perugia, Italy with Italian sculpture and painting
restorer Giovanni Manuali. This study included painting
and sculptures from the 1300’s to the present, and was
focused on the execution of traditional painting and
preparing techniques, in oil, fresco and tempera. The
study also included a specific study of the technique of
Caravaggio.
Seven-month stay in Italy studying selected paintings in
Rome and Florence.
1992
- Photographic investigation of selected works of
the Italian Renaissance. Part of the work was done
for the exhibition Italian Renaissance Art; A Perspective.
Permissions granted by Il Ministero per I Beni Culturali,
Italy, and I Frati Minori, Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi,
Italy. May to September.
Teaching and Lectures
2001
- Oil Painting: Traditional Techniques, Non-Toxic
Materials 1 and 2, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design,
Summer Intensive, C and N Education, Vancouver
2000-99
- Third year Drawing Course, Emily Carr Institute
of Art and Design, Design Division, Vancouver
2000-99-98
- Representing Realities and Presenting
Information, Summer session drawing course for artists
and designers, Department of art and Design, University
of Alberta, Edmonton
2000-99-98-97
- Oil Painting: Traditional Techniques,
Non-Toxic Materials 1 and 2, Emily Carr Institute of Art
and Design, C and N Education, Vancouver
Anatomical Drawing for Animators and Figure Drawing,
and The Fundamentals of Oil Painting, Emily Carr
Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver
Color Theory, Anatomical Drawing, Drawing From The
Masters, Painting, ELST Design Studio, Vancouver
1991
- Junior level Painting course, Department of Art
and Design, University of Alberta
1992-91-90
- Introductory Art courses, Department of Art
and Design, University of Alberta
1998
- Public Figure Drawing Sessions, Active Minds
Series, Chapters Bookstores in conjunction with Emily
Carr Institute of Art and Design
1993
- The Artist’s Position. Lecture in conjunction with
show Italian Renaissance Art: A Perspective. Department
of Art and Design, University of Alberta
Creating A History. Lecture in conjunction with show
Actual Possibilities. University of Alberta
Structuring Color. Invited lecturer, 4th year course,
Department of Art and Design, University of Alberta
Theory and Practice. Invited lecturer, graduate seminar,
Department of Art and Design, University of Albert
Selected Writings, Reviews, and Interviews
Interview and story, Aislinn Hunter, CBC Radio, North by
Northwest, Saturday, January 27, 2001
Interview and feature story, Janet Dirks, VTV news at Six,
January 30, 2001
“Karen Yurkovich at Linda Hodges Gallery”, Paula
Gustaffson, Asian Art News, Volume 9, number 6, Nov/
Dec 1999, pp. 105 - 6
Nick Rockel, Editor’s Choice, Vancouver Magazine,
November 1999
“Karen Yurkovich”, Vancouver Sun, November 4, 1999
Linda Moore, Round – up, Richmond News, July 24, 1998
“Letter to a Friend”, Artichoke magazine, Summer Vol.
10, No. 2, 1998, pp. 8 - 9
“Karen Yurkovich, The Elements”, Mia Johnson,
Preview, April/May, 1997
“Big Talk Backed up with Bigger Talent”, Charles
Mandel, Edmonton Journal, October 6, 1995
“Exhibit Raises Heat”, Tracy Neumann, See magazine,
October 19, 1995
“Karen Yurkovich”, Gianluca Marziani, 10 March, 1994
“Renaissance Woman”, Charles Mandel, Edmonton
Journal, November 30, 1994
“FAB undergoes renaissance renovation”, Gabino
Vidal Travassos, Gateway, Thursday, March 11, 1993
“This show provides undoubted pleasure”,
Elizabeth Beauchamp, Edmonton Journal, Friday,
April 24, 1992
Translation of “Environmental Planning and Industrial
Design”, by Medardo Chiapponi, for Design Issues, 1997
“Italy: Experiences and Expectations; Florence, a
point of intensity”, Rhizome, #4/5, October, 1992
“A Dialogue”, Rhizome, #2, December 1991.
“Rhizome: Introduction”, Rhizome, #1, October, 1991
Co-founder, editor and contributor, Rhizome, Art journal,
Fall of 1991
COMMISSIONS
Renaissance wines, Calgary and Vancouver
Osaka Golf Club, Japan
Artemis Marketing Group, The Delta Hotels, Vancouver
Cook, Duke, Cox, Calgary
COLLECTIONS
Nordstrom’s Department Store, Seattle
Renaissance Wines, Vancouver and Calgary
Delta Hotels, Vancouver
Swedish Hospital, Seattle
Seymour Collection, Vancouver
Artemis Marketing Group, Vancouver
Alberta Foundation for the Arts
University of Alberta
Cook, Duke, Cox, Edmonton and Calgary
Shaw Cable, Calgary and Victoria
David Zacharko Architect, Vancouver
Zacharko Design Partnership, Vancouver
The Lazy Gourmet Restaurant, Vancouver
Kyle Loranger Design, Edmonton
New Castle Club, Bellevue, Washington
Zymogenetics Corporation, Seattle
Private collections in Italy, Germany, the US, and Canada