Karen Elaine Horne was born in New York City in 1959. She is an impressionist who works in oil and pastels. Karen's mother is professional artist Phyllis Horne; her paternal grandmother is Alice Merrill Horne, Utah 's first lady of the arts. She lives in Salt Lake City.

Horne studied at Yale where she graduated with honors as art major. She later earned an MFA in painting at Indiana University. She returned to New York where she worked at the Frick Collection. While in New York , she received grants to paint New York 's open spaces. Returning to Salt Lake in 1996 she set up a studio.

Horne's work has been recognized with many awards. She was part of the Utah Cultural Olympiad in conjunction with the 2002 Olympics. Her works was also featured in the Lieutenant Governor's 2002 invitational. Her work, Water's Edge, was also exhibited in the Utah Arts Council 2001 juried exhibition, Mixed Media and Works on Paper. Off Sound View Drive (1996) is another example of her landscape work.

Information on this page was adapted from autobiographical information supplied by the artist.

"These (Karen Horne's) canvases pulse with real enjoyment of brush on canvas" 

-George Dibble

Born in New York City , Karen Horn was raised in California and Utah . Despite her family roots in the Utah art scene, she yearned to expand her horizons with study on the east coast and internationally. She graduated from Yale University with honors and distinction in art. After earning an M.F.A. in painting at Indiana University on a full teaching fellowship, she went on to study abroad in Florence and Rome .

In 1985, she moved to New York , where she worked at the noted museum, The Frick Collection, and actively painted and exhibited her work. During this period, her work was facilitated by three separate grants to develop paintings of New York 's open spaces. She returned to set up a studio in Salt Lake in 1996.

When her first solo show opened at the Lumiere Gallery in Salt Lake, in 1981, George Dibble described her as "A new talent with power." Over the years, she has received honors from national exhibition jurors such as Andre Emmerich and artist Phillip Pearlstein, as well as a top prize from the National Academy of Design's 165 th Annual Exhibition. In 2004, she was selected by Mario Naves, critic for the NY Observer, to receive the Utah Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship. Her Paintings are featured in public and private collections, including the Utah State Art Collection, Salt Lake County Collection, Fairview Museum and Springville Museum . Corporate collections include the Hilton Hotel, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Reynolds and American Express.

Since 1981, Karen Horne has exhibited at venues throughout the country, including galleries in New York, San Francisco , Atlanta , the Hamptons, as well as along Utah 's Wasatch front. She was featured in "Utah Art/Utah Artists" of the 2002 Cultural Olympiad and the Lieutenant Governor's 2002 Invitational, and was voted one of the "100 Most Honored Artists of Utah." In 1999, Karen and her mother, Phyllis F. Horne, were featured together in a major show "It's All Relative" at the Springville Museum . She has taught at the university level, and taught intensive courses for art majors at the University of Utah . In 2003, she and her husband, Michael Rowley, opened HORNE Fine Art Gallery/Studio in downtown S.L.C., which is noted for its fine selection of work and intriguing group theme exhibitions.

In October 2005, Southwest Art spotlighted Horne's paintings of restaurant themes in the article "Café Society." She is noted for her sizzling color and deft handling of the figure in environments. While living in New York , she depicted the city's street-life and open spaces. Since returning to Salt Lake City, she continues to visit restaurants, parks and festivals for inspiration- recording the local spectacle. Her works celebrate the parade of life in a bold array of gestures and colors. She loves working in both oil paint and pastel.

Karen Horne credits early influences to her passion for art and instinct for color. She was fortunate to grow up in a home where art was both created and collected. The walls were hung with paintings by her mother, the noted landscape painter, Phyllis F. Horne, as well as boldly colored paintings by early Utah impressionists. Many of these works were form the private collection of Karen Horne's paternal great-grandmother, Alice Merrill Horne, Utah 's "First Lady of the Arts." Both a painter in her own right as well as a champion of the arts, Alice 's example was a beacon to follow. Visit Karen's websites at: www.karenhorne.com and www.hornefineart.com

Vita: 
Additional education: 
1980- Yale Summer School of Music and Art at Norfolk, CT (full scholarship) Studied with Louis Finkelstein. 
1979- New York Studio, Summer Program, New York, NY.

Recent exhibition: 
2005- Utah Arts Council, Rio Gallery, S.L.C., UT, Fellowship Award Exhibition.

Biography courtesy of the artist.

Link to artist's website

Newspaper Articles

"Art Keeps Sprouting, Despite a Barren Economic Landscape." The Salt Lake Tribune, February 21, 2003.

"Galleries." The Deseret News, September 12, 1999.

"Galleries." The Deseret News, March 15, 1998.

"Galleries." The Deseret News, November 16, 1997.

"Galleries." The Deseret News, June 22, 1997.

"Galleries." The Deseret News, April 5, 1992.

"Galleries." The Deseret News, December 22, 1991.

"Horne Opens New S.L. Gallery." The Deseret News, February 16, 2003.

"Showing At Local Galleries." The Deseret News, March 2, 2003.

"Showing at Local Galleries." The Deseret News, April 13, 2003.

"Showing At Local Galleries." The Deseret News, February 29, 2003.

"Showing At Local Galleries." The Deseret News, September 5, 1999.

"Special Olympics." The Salt Lake Tribune, April 18, 1994.

"Weekly Planner." The Salt Lake Tribune, September 30, 1997.

"William E. (Bill) Bey." The Salt Lake Tribune, November 22, 2001.

"William E. (Bill) Bey." The Salt Lake Tribune, November 23, 2001.

Books

Olpin, Robert S., William C. Seifrit, and Vern G. Swanson. Artists of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999.

Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, Donna Poulton, and Janie L. Rogers. 150 Year Survey Utah Art & Artists. Salt Lake City, UT:Gibb Smith, 2002.

Periodical

Dicosola, Mark. "Horne Fine Art." 15 Bytes. http://www.artistsofutah.org/newsletter/03mar/page5.html (accessed July 10, 2008).