EDUCATION
1994 Artist in Residence, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
1971 M.F.A., University of California, Los Angeles.
1966 B.A., University of Oregon.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Faces and Places, GAVLAK Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Karen Carson: Middle Ground, GAVLAK Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2020 “Middle Ground,” Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
2016 “Zip Line,” Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica.
2015 “Movers and Shakers: Combines, Tractors, and Swathers by Karen Carson,” Oklahoma
State University Museum of Art, Stillwater, OK.
2013 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica.
2011 “La Condition Humaine,” Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica.
2010 "Let's Face the Music and Dance," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica. 2007 “Ride
the Wind,” Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica.
2005 Pomona College Museum of Art, Project Series, Claremont, CA
2004 “Putting Out Fires,” Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica.
2001 "Making the Seen," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica.
1998 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica.
1997 Crockett Rodeo, Seattle, Washington.
Bill Maynes Gallery, New York.
1996 "Art From the Heart," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica.
"But Enough About Me," a three-venue exhibition, organized by Anne Ayres: “The
Language of Space," Otis Gallery, Los Angeles.
"It's A Small World," Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.
"Karen Carson: A 25-Year Survey, Santa Monica Museum of Art, curated by Noriko
Gamblin, Bill Maynes Gallery, New York.
1994 Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, brochure. "Simple
Lessons, Easy Pieces," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1992 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles
1991 "A Time and a Place for Everything," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1990 "Hot Flashes - Dangerous Drawings,” Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1989 "Spiritual Vanities," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1988 "Abstract Narcissism," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1987 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1985 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1984 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1982 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1981 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1980 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1979 Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1977 Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles.
1976 Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles.
1973 Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles.
1969 Atheneum Gallery, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 No Soft Edges: Women in Minimalism, GAVLAK Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2020 Nasty Women, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2014 “The Avant-Garde Collection,” OCMA, Newport Beach, CA
“Valley Vista: Art in the San Fernando Valley CA. 1970-1990”, California State University, Northridge
Galleries, Northridge, CA, curated by Damon Willick.
"Canvas Constructions" Karen Carson and Allan McCollum, Henry Gallery, University of Washington,
Seattle.
2011 “Under the Big Black Sun,” MOCA, Los Angeles, CA (catalog).
2010 “Side By Side,” The Colburn School, Los Angeles, exhib. of artists ’portraits by Wayne Shimabukuro
and artworks by each artist, (catalogue).
2009 “Is This The Real Life?” Galerie Califia, Horazdovice, Czech Republic, curated by Phyllis Green.
2006 “Plainer: A Contemporary Take on Landscape,” Torrance Art Museum, Torrance.
“Driven to Abstraction,” Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA.
2005 “Contemporary Soliloquies on the Natural World: Karen Carson, Merion Estes, Constance Mallinson,
Margaret Nielsen, and Takako Yamaguchi,” Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los
Angeles, catalogue.
2004 “Beyond Geometry,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, catalogue, curated by
Lynn Zelevansky.
“MCCF View & Vote,” The Marian Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX. 2002
“Parallels and Intersections: Art/Women/California 1950-2000,” curated by Diana Fuller, San Jose
Museum of Art, San Jose, California.
“Post-Cool,” curated by Michael Duncan, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA. “Curators
’Choice,” McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX.
2001 "The L.A. Scene," Numark Gallery, Washington, D.C.
"The Importance of Being Earnest," curated by Michael Duncan, Occidental College, Los Angeles.
“The Magic Hour: Die Konvergenz Von Kunst und Las Vegas,” curated by Alex Farquharson, Neue
Galerie at the Künstlerhaus, Burgring, Graz, Austria.
2000 "The Big G Stands for Goodness: Corita Kent's 1960s POP," curated by Michael Duncan, Luckman
Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles.
"100 Rooms, 100 Artists; The Spurgeon Experience," Raid Projects, Santa Ana, CA
"12 Divas," curated by Dextra Frankel, Molly Barnes Gallery, Santa Monica.
1999 "Radical Past: Art and Music in Pasadena, 1960-74," Norton Simon Museum, Armory Center for the
Arts, and Art Center College of Design, Pasadena.
1998 Pop Abstraction, curated by Sid Sachs, Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
Beauty is the Beast, Nevada Institute for Contemporary Art, Las Vegas, NV.
1997 Four Los Angeles Artists, Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney International, Sydney, Australia.
1996 "Made in L.A.: The Prints of Cirrus Editions," Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
"Drawn from L.A.," Williamson Gallery, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena.
"Sentimental Extremes," Bill Maynes Gallery, New York.
1995 "Flowers," curated Irit Krygier, Boritzer/Gray/Hamano, Santa Monica.
"Selections from the Robert A. Rowan Trust Collection," Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, Art
Center College of Design, Pasadena.
"Eye Tattooed America," Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA. "From L.A. With Love," Galerie
Praz-Delavallade, Paris.
"La Demande esta en Barata," Galeria OMR, Mexico City. "LA," Guerra Arte Contemporaneo,
Mexico City.
"Sentimental Extremes," Bill Maynes Gallery, New York. "Bread," Airport Terminal, San Francisco.
"Lotus Motel Show," Lotus Motel, Inglewood, CA.
1994 "Love in the Ruins," curated by Noriko Gamblin, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA,
catalogue.
"Pen and Ink," curated by Michael Darling, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa
Barbara.
"Balls," Newspace, Los Angeles.
"Romance," curated by Irit Krygier, Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, Art Center College of
Design, Pasadena.
1993 "The Contemporary Psychedelic Experience," Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman College, Orange, CA.
"L.A. STORIES," Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles.
"the elegant, irreverent & obsessive: DRAWING IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA," Visual Arts Center,
California State University, Fullerton.
"BACKTALK," Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara.
"L.A. Next," curated by Annette Carlozzi, Contemporary Arts Council, New Orleans, LA
1992 "Bedroom Eyes Room with a View," California State University, Fullerton, CA.
"LAX: The Los Angeles Exhibition," Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles.
"Tattoo Collection," Air de Paris, Urbi Orbi, Paris.
1991 "Individual Realities," Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo and Tsukashin Hall, Osaka, Japan.
"Quick Coagulation Forms The August Corpse," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Addictions," Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA.
1990 "Past & Present - Selected Works by Gallery Artists," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1989 "The Pasadena Armory Show," The Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, catalogue. 1988 "New
Works on Paper," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1987 "The Years of Passage: 1969-1975," Fresno Arts Center and Museum, Fresno, CA.
"Group Exhibition," Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA.
"Perpetual Motion," Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, catalogue. 1985
"Sunshine and Shadow: Recent Painting in Southern California," Fisher Gallery, University of
Southern California, Los Angeles, catalogue.
1984 "Watercolors: A Contemporary Survey," University Art Gallery, San Diego State University, San
Diego.
"Karen Carson, Janet Cooling, Amanda Farber, Gillian Theobald," Patty Aande Gallery, San Diego.
1983 "Summer Show," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
"The First Show," The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, catalogue.
"Group Exhibition," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1982 "Drawings by Painters," Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, catalogue.
"L.A. Art: An Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings," Nagoya City Museum, Nagoya, Japan and
Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles.
"Recent Acquisitions from the Collection of Robert A. Rowan," Art Center School of Design,
Pasadena.
"New Work," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles. "Theatrical Abstraction," Jan Baum Gallery,
Los Angeles.
1981 "Decade: Los Angeles Painting in the '70s," Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, catalogue.
"Abstractions," San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco.
"The Museum as Site: Sixteen Projects," Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles,
catalogue.
"Professor's Choice," Lang Gallery, Scripps College, The Galleries of the Claremont Colleges,
Claremont, CA.
1980 "Contemporaries: 17 Artists," Security Pacific Bank, Los Angeles, catalogue. "New Work,"
Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.
1979 "L.A. Drawing Show," University of New Mexico Art Gallery, Albuquerque
"Los Angeles -Toronto Exchange," A.C.T., Toronto, with Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art.
1978 "A Point of View," Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
"L.A. Women Narrations," Mandeville Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego.
"Group Exhibition," Libra Gallery, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA.
1977 "Six Faculty Artists," California State University, Northridge. "Current Concerns," University of Iowa,
Fine Arts Gallery, Iowa City.
1976 "Contemporary Masters," Libra Gallery, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA. "Artists, West
L.A.," Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica.
"American Artists '76, A Celebration," Marion K. McNay Institute, San Antonio, TX, catalogue.
1975 "Drawings," Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA, catalogue.
"North, East, West, South and Middle (American Drawings)," Moore College of Art, Philadelphia;
Pratt Graphics Center, New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Fort Worth Art Museum,
Fort Worth, TX; La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA.
"Drawings," Dootson-Calderhead Gallery, Seattle.
"Graphics-Cirrus," Van Stratten Gallery, Chicago. "Paintings," John Doyle Gallery, Chicago.
"Cirrus Graphics," Santa Barbara Center for Graphics, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa
Barbara, CA.
"Drawings," Brooke Alexander, New York.
1974 "Exprint," Libra Gallery, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA.
"Sixteen Los Angeles Women Artists," Cerritos College, Norwalk, CA, catalogue.
1973 "Carson, O'Shea, Trowbridge," 118 Gallery, Minneapolis.
"Recent Drawings/California," Long Beach City College, Long Beach.
"Some California Artists," The Gallery of the Loretto-Hilton Center, St. Louis, MO.
"Young American Graphics," Loyola University, Los Angeles and Hamburg, Germany.
1972 "Fifteen Los Angeles Artists," Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena.
"21 Artists: Visible/Invisible," Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach.
"32nd Annual Exhibition for the Society of Contemporary Art," Chicago Art Institute, Chicago.
"California Women Painters," Lang Art Gallery, Scripps College, The Galleries of the Claremont
Colleges, Claremont, CA.
"Soft Sculpture," Brand Art Center, Glendale, CA.
"The Wall Object," La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA.
"Drawings," Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles.
1971 "Southern Illinois Centennial Years," Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (Purchase Award).
1970 "New Talent, Los Angeles," Auspices of Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, San Pedro Gallery, San
Pedro, California.
"11 Young Sculptors," Mt. San Antonio College Gallery, Walnut, California. "Eighth Annual Small
Sculpture and Drawing Exhibition," San Diego Museum of Fine Arts, San Diego.
"Seventh Annual Small Sculpture and Drawing Exhibition," Western Washington State College,
Bellingham.
"Eighth Annual Southern California Exhibition," Long Beach (Purchase Prize).
1969 "Los Angeles '69," Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles.
1964 "Oregon Annual Painting Exhibition," Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Oregon. 1963 "Northwest
Printmakers' Annual," Henry Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1995 - 1999 Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara Lecturer, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Lecturer, University of California, Irvine
1994 - 1995 Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles Lecturer, Otis College of Art and Design Lecturer, Art Center College of Design Lecturer, Claremont Graduate School
1986 - 1995 Lecturer, University of California, Santa Barbara
AWARDS
1981 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Painting Fellowship
1996 Research Grant, University of California, Santa Barbara.
1994 The J. Paul Getty Trust Fellowship administered by the California Community Foundation.
1985 National Endowment for the Arts Grant
1972 Mitchell Gallery, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Purchase Award 1972 Mt. San Antonio
College, Walnut, CA, Purchase Award
1970 Western Washington College, Bellingham, Purchase Award Long Beach Museum of Art, Purchase
Award
1969 Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Young Talent Award
PROJECTS
1996 Levi’s commercial (artwork featured), H.S.I., New York, Los Angeles New York Art Pick,
http://www.art.icons.com
1977 Billboard, located at Santa Monica & La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles 1973 Installation, Brand Library,
Glendale, CA.