Galleries West Fine Art

Karol Mack, OPA

Discipline(s): Oil

Accolades: Signature Member of the Oil Painters of America and founding member of the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters (Emeritus). Awards: Salon International Invitational Exhibition - Top 50 Award (2009); Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters National Show - Award of Merit (2004, 2008); Oil Painters of America National Show - Award of Excellence (2002); American Professional Artists' League Show - Director's Choice Award (2000); Salmagundi Club Annual Non-Member's National Show - Gamblin Award (2008), Jessie B. McReynolds Award (1995).

Bio:
Born in Kansas and raised on the plains of Colorado, Karol Mack is a descendant of Colorado pioneers. Her award-winning landscapes of rugged natural settings are painted on location in the Rocky Mountains, the Pajarito Plateau of northern New Mexico, and other areas where the beauty of nature’s essence is found in abundance. Karol’s paintings capture the solace of the regions and subjects she paints. Karol is most inspired by plein air painting, because she believes that it allows the artist to more realistically capture the light, mood, and feeling of the area. She uses tall trees against the sky, distant hills, mountains, winding streams, waterfalls, still lakes, tipis and classical architecture; all of these images are selected in such a way as to communicate a sense of enchantment and response. She is best characterized by her ability to depict stillness, silence, and unbounded voids that lead into the unknown. She is defined by her use of atmosphere and light. Karol communicates to each of us the grandeur and subtlety that is nature.

Karol’s work has been exhibited in galleries, juried exhibitions and solo shows. She has been honored with numerous awards for her artistic achievements. Karol is a signature member of the Oil Painters of America (OPA), and she has been invited to exhibit in many OPA national shows since 1994. In 2002, she received the Award of Excellence from that organization for her work titled First Americans. Karol is also a Founding Member (Emeritus status) of the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters (RMPAP). She has participated in numerous RMPAP National and Invitational exhibitions, receiving the Award of Merit in 2002 and 2008. Other recognitions include a Top 50 Award in the Salon International Invitational (2009), the Mountain Oyster Club exhibition in Tucson, AZ (2008, 2009), the Gamblin Award (2008) and the Jessie B. McReynolds Award (1995) at the Salmagundi Club National Show, NYC, and the Director’s Choice Award at the American Professional Artists’ League Show (2000), also in New York City. Her work has been featured in many magazines, including Fine Art Connoisseur, Southwest Art, Cowboys and Indians, and International Artist. She was also included in the book Plein Air New Mexico (part of the Jack Richeson Fine Art Series). An upcoming book on her artwork by Dr. James Pickering (past president of Houston University and Estes Park Historian Laureate), Dr. Pat McKee (Colo. State University, Dean of Aesthetics), and Brian Mack (Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland), is due to be published in August, 2010.

Karol makes her home outside of Santa Fe and has studios in White Rock, NM and Estes Park, CO. She travels the US, England and Scotland in pursuit of plein air painting.

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