Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Karen Kappell’s mixed media art is featured at the St. Rose art gallery hallway!
Sister Karen’s creative process is guided by intuition and reflection. Whether deciding if a piece is finished or if she has used enough of a certain material, she steps away and returns with fresh eyes, relying on a feeling to know when the work is complete.
Her hallway exhibit combines clay, fluid acrylics and watercolor along with elements like seeds, cattail rods, wasp nests, fur and bark. Using each material’s unique qualities, Sister Karen creates variety, contrast and balance, guided by design principles and inspired by the color spectrum and its links to chakras, sound and the body. Sister Karen shares, “Combining mediums is like solving a creative problem – each enhances the other.”
Having lived and taught at the Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center in the Wisconsin Northwoods and other rural landscapes, Sister Karen draws inspiration from both grand vistas and small details, sunsets and rushing streams alongside the close-up beauty of moss or grasses. “The vastness of nature is never exhausted,” says Sister Karen.
Beyond art, Sister Karen says her creative process shaped her worldview:
“It’s made me curious and adaptable. It’s moved me to tend to my relationship with nature and wonder about it – and even beyond it, to God. And it’s made me practice seeing beauty, even in what seems ugly or small.”
To view Sister Karen’s art gallery hallway at St. Rose, join a chapel tour on Friday or Saturday, and request a stop at the art hallway. Visit Sister Karen Kappell’s story and gallery to learn more about her and her work.