ABOUT KAREN STANDER
I was born in Cape town, South Africa, and was trained as a social worker. Since 2015, I attended art tutoring classes as well as workshops in figure drawing, painting and printmaking. During 2018 my husband accepted an opportunity to work in the UAE and I saw it as the ideal opportunity to follow a long-time dream to study Fine Arts. I enrolled with OCA, University for the Creative Arts, in London, which offered an online study option. I am currently on their level HE 5 with the idea to obtain a Hon in Fine Art.
My art practice is to work with charcoal as well as oil paint. In 2017 I started an ongoing drawing project, investigating Rhino poaching. I had the opportunity to exhibit my work in Dubai and won a residency for a rhino drawing under the theme of the year of Tolerance during Nov/Dec 2019.
I believe art can bring about transformation in human behaviour as I strive to open up conversation with my audience about inter connectivity with nature, living/non living through my own daily practice of walking and reflecting. I find myself attracted to nature and culture. Drawing is very much part of my daily practice and I believe there is always wonder/awe when looking at the visual world as the place I find myself working in.
I will be working, living and studying on a farm in the Riebeeck Valley as from April 2021 when we relocate back from Dubai. Here I will continue to position the art of walking as a studio practice for my studies in the Fine Arts.