Artist Karen Thurlow on Place and Memory

"I am grateful that this show can be shown in the town where I started my life since most of the pieces of art happened in this county. Thank you to everyone at the National Willa Cather Center for allowing me to show my art in the town where I spent so much of my growing up years" 

—Karen Thurlow

Tell us a bit about your relationship to Webster County and your family history here.

I was born in Red Cloud, delivered by Dr. Francis Obert August 19, 1943.  I lived with my parents on different farms in Webster county, mostly in the Blue Hill/Bladen area. My dad was a farmer who rented land.  We lived in whatever house was provided with the farmland, sometimes not the best house but my mother made each house a wonderful home. I attended school at Batin (the little tin schoolhouse) and Prairie Gem until I completed the eighth grade and then went to high school at Bladen where I graduated.  I have fond memories of living in Webster County and living on a farm. The times were hard and there was very little money but ,as a child, I was not aware of the hardships.  We always ate well thanks to big gardens, canning, and homegrown meat. Both of my parents were also born and raised in Webster County.

What led you to becoming an artist? Did you always draw and paint as a child?  

It is funny, I really do not remember a time that I didn’t think of myself as an artist.  My parents both could draw pretty well and my mother spent a lot of time with me and my brothers drawing pictures.  She liked to draw people so taught me to draw people, too. We would draw a whole story on the back of leftover wallpaper rolls, (that was before the rolls came with the paste already on). Drawing people and painting people was my first love of art and although I have moved on to many other subjects, I always go back to portraits and character study. That is why I have chosen to do so much art from old family photos. 

Did you study art at college or elsewhere?  

I never had the opportunity to actually go to college or even an art school.  I really wanted to do that but it did not stop me from learning and doing art.  There really was no art in grade school other than coloring. I really was miserable at coloring; I just could not stay in the lines and always added my own touches that did not please my teachers. In high school there was zero art, so no help there.

I still wanted to do art when I grew up. I was able to take some lessons from private teachers and workshops. I studied art books and did whatever I could to learn more.  I joined art clubs, and hung out with people who had similar interests. I have had the opportunity to study with some of the best artists around.  Some were well known and some were only known in the area  whereI lived.  

How did you choose your subjects for Webster County Memories?

This is a subject that I have been working on from time to time for several years because I am fascinated with old family photos (not just mine). When I paint from one of my photos, it takes me into the whole scene and I feel as if I am right there back in that time frame visiting what was taking place—kind of like being in a time machine. It is a very comforting feeling to me. This show that I have is complete but I am sure there are still more paintings in me from the family photos.  

I am grateful that this show can be shown in the town where I started my life since most of the pieces of art happened in this county. Thank you to everyone at the National Willa Cather Center for allowing me to show my art in the town where I spent so much of my growing up years. My mother’s parents lived in Red Cloud when I was growing up and I spent many happy times at their home. In later years, when my parents retired, they moved to Red Cloud and spent the rest of their lives there.

Do you have a particularly favorite work in this exhibit?  

Whatever painting I am working on is always my favorite one. When it is finished, the next one is my favorite.  Some I feel are better done than others but I can’t say I have a favorite.

Do you paint from imagined memory or from photographs—or both?

I do both. Sometimes a photo is involved but I may add some remembered things which could be just imagined. When working more abstractly, I usually just pick a color pallet and start applying paint to the canvas. I love to see paint run and make interesting patterns. I also will add some stamping and maybe some collage or stenciling with no end in mind. Something usually will get my imagination going and in the end it actually is a painting that I am happy with.

What are your favorite subjects to paint?

I do like to paint people and I am known for my cat paintings. No matter what I paint, I am happy. I just try a lot of things and methods. If I have a brush and paint in hand, I am pretty happy. I just love to make art.  I have done a lot of commission work and like doing that and can do it successfully, but mostly I just love the painting journey. It is the process, not the product, that makes me happy.

How would you describe the process of memory within yourself? Is it visual or based on stories you’ve heard or personal experiences—or all three?  

Memory is such an interesting concept and given that your exhibition has that in its title, I was wondering what inspires you from memory. Is it a visual image in your mind’s eye, given that you’re an artist or is it a story passed down, or a specific historic image that might inspire you? Or maybe some combination?

You are correct, memory is an interesting subject. I certainly do not have a photographic memory, not even close, but I seem to have very detailed memories of incidents from my childhood. The photos that are of my childhood, I remember a lot about the day that the images were shot. Things like why the photo was even taken, what kind of day it was, the color of the clothing worn, the mood of the people in the photo. The older photos of times before I was born, I only have memories of what I was told about the photo. In some cases, nothing was told to me and my imagination put the story together. Hopefully I tell the story in the way the painting reads. I have done some paintings strictly from memories but most are done by feelings and not so much memories.

Can you share a particular memory or story that led to one of your paintings?

I have one particular painting in this show that is not my best but I have a personal feeling about it. It is called Photo-op before Church. It is of my father and mother, two brothers and me. There were two photos of this event: one with my father and me, and my two siblings, and one with my mother and the three of us. Obviously, there was no one there to take a photo of the whole family so they did the next best thing to record the day. I always wished that it could have been all of us together so I painted it that way.  It was not easy but I am so glad that I was able to do it.

Do you work in other subjects or mediums not represented in this exhibit?

Yes, I do and have worked in many mediums and still visit them from time to time.  I started with oil painting and did that for many years and then went to pastel, and then watercolor media which I have pretty much stayed with the last few years. Working in acrylic is what I am loving right now. In the 1990s, I did a lot of mural work in businesses and private homes. This gave me the opportunity to paint BIG. I really loved it and was quite successful doing it. I got into that at a time when it was really getting popular so I had a lot of good jobs through an interior design company. It was a great experience but taxing on one’s body. Standing on a ladder or scaffolding all day or laying on the floor or reaching for the ceiling is not something I can or wish to do anymore.

I also am known for my painted furniture.  Over the years I have done a lot of it.  My things are usually either funny or have a lot of whimsy to them.  Every piece of furniture dictates what it wants to be and I comply. Furniture sells faster than paintings on canvas, so that alone is a reason to paint it.

View Webster County Memories Exhibit

Works in this exhibit are available for sale, and affordably priced. Art purchases from the Red Cloud Opera House Gallery benefit the artist and help support our mission to bring quality arts programming and events to rural Nebraska.