Karen Gleeson is a Scottish Illustrator, Ceramicist and Collage-Maker based in her parent’s kitchen in Paisley. Her work is inspired by the wonderfulness of every day and the random thoughts that pop into her head. She also writes poetry and enjoys being very visual with what she writes, which can be communicated through illustration. During Lockdown, she moved from her student flat to her childhood home and managed to adapt her practice to working at home. In this weird period of time, she began to research zine-culture and began to collate an online zine between her, her friends and many art students that had been displaced by the pandemic. She also continued to grow her love for collages, and created and sent collages to loved ones and friends who she was missing dearly. Overall, Lockdown challenged Karen’s way of working and forced a different perspective on creation, she became more resourceful and learnt how to create fun and interesting pieces within her house rather than in the studio. The Lockdown also allowed Karen a lot more time to be creative, as she was on furlough from her service jobs, from this she was able to make a large body of work. Looking back on this time to create fondly, she hopes in the future that she will be able to devout herself, wholeheartedly, to creating work full time again soon.  

 

If you would like to contact Karen or find out more about her work, she can be reached at the following links: 

 

Art Instagram: @karen_illustrates 

Online zine: @sillyzine_