Karen Caldwell is a British-born Barbadian artist whose abstract works explore transformation, identity, and connection through layered textures and shifting light. Working primarily with acrylics, palette knives, and metallics, she creates pieces that evolve throughout the day, inviting new perspectives with every glance. Her work has been exhibited in Europe, the Caribbean, and North America, and often weaves symbols and traditions of the African and Caribbean Diaspora into contemporary forms.
Workshops
Acrylic Flow: Painting as Meditation
This calming workshop blends acrylic painting with mindfulness. Participants begin with a short breathing exercise, then move into creating soft, layered paintings using slow, intentional brushstrokes. The focus is on the process of painting rather than producing a polished final piece, encouraging relaxation, reflection, and creative expression. By the end of the hour, each participant will have a unique abstract work that serves as a reminder of the peaceful practice of painting with presence.
This 60-minute workshop is great for upper elementary, middle school, high school, adults, and older adults.
Using Palette Knife Techniques to Create Depth and Texture
This workshop is a brief introduction to the palette knife as a painting tool. I will explain that palette knives are not just for applying paint but also for creating texture, scraping back layers, and manipulating the canvas’s surface to build depth. The focus will be on using the palette knife to explore light, shadow, and form within an abstract context.
This 60-minute workshop is great for upper elementary, middle school, high school, adults, and older adults.
Session Breakdown
Introduction to Palette Knife Techniques: Learn how palette knives can create smooth, rough, thick, or thin textures and how layering paint adds visual depth.
Demonstration: Watch key techniques such as spreading, scraping, and layering paint to understand how to balance light and dark contrasts.
Creative Process: Participants create their own abstract paintings using palette knives, exploring intuition, texture, and form while developing their technical control and expressive range.
Mask Making & Identity: Exploring Who We Are Through Art
This workshop invites people to explore identity, emotion, and creativity by designing and painting their own paper-mâché masks. Masks offer a fun, imaginative way for participants to express different sides of themselves using color, pattern, and symbolic imagery.
Through guided activities and hands-on painting, participants learn how masks across cultures communicate meaning, how colors and patterns express feelings, and how personal symbols can be used to tell a visual story. Each young artist leaves with a unique mask that reflects a part of who they are or who they are becoming.
By the end of the workshop, participants will:
- Understand how masks across cultures express identity, mood, and story.
- Explore color palettes, shapes, and patterns as expressive tools.
- Create a painted paper-mâché mask that reflects a feeling, character, or personal symbol.
- Build confidence through guided creative decision-making.
Ideal for all ages. This program can be customized for different groups and settings, as well as for professional development.
Residencies
Landscape in Layers
In this residency, participants will learn how to create a complete acrylic landscape painting by breaking the process into clear, manageable steps. Each session builds on the last, allowing participants to develop skills and confidence at their own pace.
Session 1: Introduction to acrylics and creating a simple sketch of the landscape. Participants practice laying down a base coat of color to set the overall tone.
Session 2: Blocking in the main shapes of land, sky, and water using large brushstrokes. Focus on composition and balance.
Session 3: Exploring blending and layering techniques to add depth, light, and atmosphere to the sky and background.
Session 4: Adding details and textures with brushes and palette knives to bring the landscape to life.
Session 5–6: Refinement and finishing touches — highlights, contrast, and personal expression to make each painting unique.
By the end of the residency, each participant will have completed a finished landscape painting. Along the way, they will gain practical skills in acrylic painting, learn how to build depth with layers of color, and explore how simple techniques can transform a blank canvas into a vivid scene.
Customizable and ideal for upper elementary, middle school, high school, adults, and older adults.
Abstract Adventures: Painting with Color and Imagination
In this residency, young artists explore the exciting world of abstract art through color, shape, and texture. Each session encourages playful discovery and self-expression while helping students build foundational painting skills. They’ll learn that art doesn’t have to look like something — it can feel like something instead.
Session 1: Introduction to color and shape. Students experiment with brushstrokes and color mixing to create expressive backgrounds.
Session 2: Exploring pattern and movement. Using sponges, brushes, and everyday objects, students create layered textures and begin to see how shapes and colors can tell a story.
Session 3: Building a balanced composition. Students learn how to use overlapping shapes and contrasting colors to guide the viewer’s eye across the canvas.
Session 4: Adding details and final flourishes. Students use palette knives, brushes, and even their fingertips to add highlights and finishing touches that make each piece unique.
By the end of the residency, each student will have completed a joyful abstract painting filled with color, rhythm, and imagination. The process emphasizes creative confidence, experimentation, and the idea that every brushstroke has meaning — even when it’s messy.
Ideal for early elementary classrooms (ages 5–8). Can be adapted for different classroom schedules and student needs. Duration: 4-5 sessions, 45 minutes each.
Community Mural
This residency brings people together through collaborative painting. Participants work side by side on a large, pre-drawn canvas, each adding brushstrokes, colors, and personal touches. The process is simple and accessible to all skill levels, and the result is a vibrant collective artwork that reflects the group’s creativity and spirit. Duration and number of sessions vary depending on project scope.
This residency is customizable for all participants, regardless of age.
Mask Making & Identity: Exploring Who We Are Through Art
This residency invites people to explore identity, emotion, and creativity by designing and painting their own paper-mâché masks. Masks offer a fun, imaginative way for participants to express different sides of themselves using color, pattern, and symbolic imagery.
Through guided activities and hands-on painting, participants learn how masks across cultures communicate meaning, how colors and patterns express feelings, and how personal symbols can be used to tell a visual story. Each young artist leaves with a unique mask that reflects a part of who they are or who they are becoming.
By the end of the program, participants will:
- Understand how masks across cultures express identity, mood, and story.
- Explore color palettes, shapes, and patterns as expressive tools.
- Create a painted paper-mâché mask that reflects a feeling, character, or personal symbol.
- Build confidence through guided creative decision-making.
Ideal for all ages. This program can be customized for different groups and settings, as well as for professional development.
Teaching Artist Statement
As a teaching artist, Karen focuses on sparking curiosity and confidence in her students. She begins with titles and ideas as creative anchors, encouraging participants to build their own stories through color, texture, and experimentation. She enjoys guiding people of all ages to discover how art can mirror their own journeys of change and growth. Karen has led art experiences for schools, nonprofits, and community organizations, and she is especially passionate about creating spaces where participants feel empowered to take risks, explore freely, and bring their own voices into their work.
