About Karen

Karen Kuchel is an Australian artist and lighting designer living in New York City.

She studied architecture and architectural lighting design at Parsons The New School for Design. She also holds a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) and Bachelor of Music (Performance) from the University of Melbourne, and a Diploma for Graduates (Economics) from the London School of Economics.

Before coming to the United States, Karen worked as a management consultant at Accenture and business analyst.

Karen has won an IES Illumination Award of Merit for her work on the Hyatt Hotel Herald Square with PHT Lighting. She was one of 20 artists invited to create a gobo light projection for the Melbourne Festival of Light in 2013, and in that same year collaborated with CDR Studio Architects on an installation using deconstructed waste plastic bottles. In 2014, she won a competition to have several beach towel designs manufactured and sold by One Kings Lane.

Her public work includes collaborating on the 9/11 memorial in Hoboken and her insights about the memorial were featured on NBC News New York.

Artist’s Statement

I create abstract patterns, cut and folded paper art, and light art and installations.

Inspiration strikes me suddenly and sometimes in the most unexpected of ways. A magazine article, a walk down a busy street, a solo ramble in nature… all these things and more can spark big visions and dreamy ideas for new work, new pieces, new creations.

I take especial joy in pieces that evoke vastness through the collection of many small things. Part of my interest in sustainability is this idea that collections of small things and small actions can have huge, unintended, and sometimes catastrophic consequences.

I also adore nature, and feel its grounding and healing influence has largely been lost in our day to day lives. In turn, we have forgotten to care for ourselves and our world, and we use materials and processes that harm us.

I love very colorful palettes, but also very subdued neutral colors. I love using rich textures and geometric shapes juxtaposed against wispy fluid lines.

I love the way light is transformed through materials. The way it bends and amplifies through thick glass, the way it sparkles through cut glass and gems, the way it diffuses gently through paper or wood, the way water plays with light and transforms it. I love the way that color is rendered through light and the way it comes alive with a specific frequency of light.

At the heart of my work is a fascination with the way that putting unexpected things together can create deep resonance and feeling – for instance, the way that certain types of light can illuminate materials in a way that visually delights us and seems to lend the object an animating force.

I make art to bring feelings into form, to express beauty and to entrain with people so they experience joy, magic, peace and love. Beauty is often considered trivial and superfluous in art and design, secondary to virtues considered more important such as intellect and critical thinking. My feeling is that nothing is more important than bringing us back to a state of wellbeing, helping us to remember who we truly are and to share that force in the world.

Photo credits: Karen Kuchel, James Mugg