Karen Bagayawa

Painting has always served as an expressive medium for me, allowing me to convey strong emotions at any moment in time, onto surface. Within painting, I am interested in colour, tactile surfaces and patterns inspired by nature and how paint behaves on a given surface.

I have always been fascinated by tactile surfaces. I experimented with cheesecloth, woven linen and tile grout to create tactile surfaces and soon discovered the 'cracked' surface. Cracking tile grout on woven linen fabric, I weave on a traditional Jack loom, I build a sensual surface texture. If the viewer cannot physically touch the work, they can imaginatively feel the surface. I have a sensitivity to colour, layering colour washes over and over again.

I have been working with my process for over twenty years and the whole process of weaving and painting is a very emotional and spiritual experience for me. In manipulating the surface, I hope to engage the viewer and transfer an energy from the making itself into a tangible new form of excitement and heightened expressive sensation.

- Karen Bagayawa

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