Log in
Forgot password

Karen Blanchet

Blanchet Fine Arts

 

Member profile details

Membership level
Affiliate Active Member
First name
Karen
Last name
Blanchet
Organization
Blanchet Fine Arts
Phone
780-761-7262
Affiliate Photograph/Avatar
Image 1
Image Title 1
Broken/brisé
Image 2
Image Title 2
Stuck/immobile
Image 3
Image Title 3
Thistles/chardons
Services Available
  • Commissioned Artwork
  • Commissioned Mural
  • Workshop Instruction
  • Technique Demonstration
Media Used
  • Acrylic
  • Charcoal
  • Collage
  • Color Pencil
  • Graphite
  • Metal
  • Mixed media
  • Printmaking
  • Watercolour
Studio Location Street Address
12936 108 Street NW Edmonton AB T5E 4X3
Studio Hours and Contact Information
By appointment only
708-761-7262
blanchet.fine.arts@gmail.com
Artist Statement
We live in a fractured world. Wars, famine and power games are forcing people to abandon their homes and their way of life in hopes of finding peace. For lack of education or specialized skills, the poor are not accepted into our northern communities. They stay in the camps on the borders of turmoil, separated from local community. Animals are caught in the crossfire. Even the trees and the rocks suffer the agony of imbalance. This chaos is evident in my work. In between the rivulets of paint and the textural accidents I choose colours and forms to suggest a landscape where beauty continues to reign. We can still change the tide and build a new world harmony. Certainly, contemporary will focuses on gold instead of beauty. Yet, beauty is essential to the wellbeing of the planet. She is essential to the survival of humanity.
Biography
Wandering the world as a child, Karen grew up looking for a place of peace. In Australia she acquired the basics in visual art at Julian Ashton Art School before finishing an Honours French Degree from the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Returning to Canada at the age of twenty-six she chose to add a Professional A Teaching Certificate from the University of Saskatchewan, to her repertoire. She taught junior high for three and a half years before taking on the role of a full-time mother.

Never far from the creative world her competencies continued to grow in drawing, oils, watercolours, acrylics and mixed media. These skills she shared through her school, Blanchet Fine Arts, established in 1990 in Bellegarde, Saskatchewan, and transported to each community in which her family took up residence.

Pursuing peace on an inward path she took several personal development courses, the final one gifting her with a Mastermind. At this point her ambitions as an artist launched into the professional realm with established studio hours and a growing clientele. Encouraged by her husband and her four children she eventually opened her own gallery, “Inspirations”, adjoining her working studio in what is now her permanent home, Edmonton, Alberta.

In 2012 her growing reputation landed her a place as one of two artists to represent Alberta in the Contact Ouest held in Whitehorse, Yukon. The other honoured artist was Patricia Lortie. During their shared time they discussed the possibility of establishing an artist mastermind along the same lines as the one Karen described. Four years later, during the annual symposium hosted by RAFA (Regroupement artistique francophone de l’Alberta), the collective “Devenir” came to be.

As a result of combining the talents of five powerful Albertan artists, the Collective Devenir has enjoyed several important successes. Karen revels in the synergy of cooperation and willingness to share the load in their pursuit of professionalism and renown.
CV Highlights
EDUCATION
2019 Professional Workshop: RAFA, mentorship, Serge Murphy
2018 Professional Workshop: SNAP, Edmonton, silk screen printing
2017 Professional Workshop: Entr’ARTS, Banff Centre
1979-80 Professional A Teaching Certificate: University of Saskatchewan
1972-76 Bachelor of Arts (Honours French): University of NSW, Sydney, Australia
1969-71 Foundation for Visual Art: Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney, Australia

EXHIBITION WORK
Solo (selected)
2020 Mezzanine Gallery, Glenrose Rehab Hospital, Edmonton, AB “One/Essence”
2019 VASA, St. Albert, AB “The Veil”
2019 Three Sisters Gallery, Canmore, AB “Sacré”
2018 Mezzanine Gallery, Glenrose Rehab Hospital, Edmonton, AB “Wildwood”
2017 VASA, St. Albert, “Sacred”
2015 VASA Gallery, Saint Albert, Alberta, “Kindred”, mixed media on canvas Collectif Devenir
2020 VASA, St. Albert, AB “Ephemeral Obsessions”
2019 SAAG, Salmon Arm, BC “Devenir”
2019 Three Sisters Gallery, Canmore, “Abondance”
2019 Feb-Mar, Multicultural Heritage Cntr, Stony Plain, AB “Devenir”
2018 Le Réseau des villes francophones et francophiles d’Amérique (RVFFA)
2018 Kiwanis Gallery, Red Deer, AB “Abondance”
2018 Artpoint, Calgary, AB “Devenir”
Group (selected)
2022 Devenir, GM Art Gallery, Drumheller AB
2021 Cspace, Alliance française, Calgary AB
2012-2022 Federation of Canadian Artists, several juried shows, w/c, mixed media, drawing
2009-2022 VASA, Saint Albert, Alberta, Member Shows
1998-2022 CAVA, Edmonton, Alberta, Member Shows, JazzArt
2017-2018 Alberta Branded, “Common Ground”
2005-2022 Harcourt House, Edmonton, Alberta, Member Shows and Naked Shows

Federation of Canadian Artists Edmonton Chapter

Edmonton, Alberta

edmonton@artists.canto

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software