"Kindred Spirits"                                                                                                                                                                       Karen Mortensen &  Ethel Mann

August 2, 2014 - August 30, 2014

Opening night:  August 1,  2014           Hours: 5:30-9:00pm  "First Friday"

Karen Mortensen is a retired fashion designer born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since a very early age Karen has always had a profound interest in creating fine art, and in 1990 became a full time artist. In 1999, she moved from Santa Barbara, California to make her home on the Big Island of Hawaii, where she now resides in the Puna district. Her art is a reflection of her diverse studies and experiences from a lifetime of travel and living among many cultures and countries throughout the world. Karen has studied fine art at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles.

Ethel Mann as a painter, discoveries during the creative process are paramount. I allow each image its own voice. A work may be in progress for many months, or may announce its arrival very immediately.My studio on Papai Street is surrounded by jungle on three sides. The natural environment of the Big Island of Hawai’i has provided daily inspiration since our arrival here in July of 2009. Since then I have developed an avid interest in photography, and have entered photographs, as well as paintings, regularly, at local juried competitions. I have always enjoyed the creative process in all the areas of my world, from raising a family, to directing an art center for adults with disabilities; from devoting 17 years to primary elementary education, to standing in my studio with a painting speaking its own language to me.