Karen W. Guzak was born in Cambridge, MA, May 21, 1939. After receiving a BS degree from the University of Colorado
in 1961, she studied at the Cornish Institute of Arts in Seattle, WA where she received a BFA degree in 1976.
Currently she resides in Snohomish, WA, working as an independent artist.
Guzak has taught watercolor painting at Seattle Pacific University, The Factory of Visual Art, and the
Centrum Foundation at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, WA. She has had commissions selected for
seven public art projects including handrail design and fabrication for the King County Council Chambers
in Seattle, and a wall sculpture for the Southern Oregon State Computing Services Building.
In addition, Guzak has been a design team member working on projects for the Seattle-Tacoma Airport
and warehouse conversions to artists’ lofts, also in the Seattle area.
Most recently, she developed a large circular compass design for the Overlake Transit Center
located at the edge of the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA.
While her primary focus is on painting, Guzak also creates print images. Her art works are in
numerous museums ranging from the Brooklyn Museum and the Pratt Institute on the east coast to
Gonzaga University and the Portland Art Museum on the west coast. Her works are also found in
numerous private and corporate collections throughout the United States and Canada. She has exhibited
nationally in galleries, invitationals, and other venues. Dealers featuring her works are the Davidson
Galleries in Seattle and the Laura Russo Gallery in Portland.
Guzak is also interested in garden and rug design. Some of her ink jet prints have been transferred to
wool rugs woven in Kathmandu, Nepal. She also owns the Yoga Circle Studio featuring classes in yoga,
meditation and pilates in Snohomish, WA.
Guzak notes that her early training in science coupled with her work as a fine artist,
sparked exploration of "a territory where scientific inquiry meets spiritual and aesthetic questing."
She has written that most of her images “explore the dialectic between the human mind in its capacity to
organize, control and understand nature, and the energetic natural phenomena of our world such as geologic
forms, water and weather.”
Art works by Guzak in the Fine Arts Collection are lithographs/computer art prints.
"Northern Lights" (1998:11:01) was purchased as part of the Kemp Endowment in 1998.
Twelve other lithographs were donated by the artist to Luther College in 1999. These prints combine
the electronic media of the color ink jet printer with hand drawn images. The lithographs of crystal
and mineral shapes in this suite were inspired by drawings by Guzak’s father, a geologist.
Ref: angelarmswork.com/Karen/; Guzak, Karen, "Between Geometry and Gesture: Combining Electronic Media
with Traditional Artistic Methods," Leonardo, 30:1 (1997): 19-22; Vita; Who’s Who in American Art
Karen Guzak (1939-)
"Jewels for Taj"
Print, 1987
LFAC #1999:06:04
