KAREN NIELSEN LICHER

Earth Paintings
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Textural paintings created from raw earth
combined with traditional painting mediums.
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The light reflectivity of these works provides a lively surface:
the earthen, textured areas absorb more light than the glazed canvas areas.
The color of these works is informed by the tones of the earth.
Each location where the earth was collected imparts its own character to the work.
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Conception
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Earth from the Coso Volcanic Field of the Eastern SIerras and mixed media on canvas over panel
96" x 39 x 3 1/2 "
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A successful rendezvous
Inevitably fortelling
The beginning of altogether new life.
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Creative energy
Propelling itself
Beyond what is yet known.​
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Incarnation of the Feminine Force
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Earth (from Chama riverbed, New Mexico) and mixed media on canvas
132" x 54" x 3 1/2 "
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This painting surprised me with its completeness, right at its inception. I had been looking through a book of images of Goddesses the night before starting the painting. The next day, with no expectations at all, I threw the paint and an entire bucket of earth onto the canvas thinking that I was creating a background texture for a work that I judged might take me an entire year, given of the size of the canvas and my usual meticulous working methods. I moved the loose earth into the wet paint with sweeping gestures of my hands, until all the paint had settled. The canvas had acted like a drum, magnifying the roar of the earth and gravel moving swiftly on its surface. When the great noise of the painting process itself had become quiet, I was stunned to see that my unconscious had released it's own interpretation of an image of Kali that I had admired in the book the night before! The image featured a representation of a tigress in the act of saving her young cubs by attacking a predator.
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Like a Dragon In a China Shop
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Earth from the Eastern Sierras and mixed media on canvas over panel.
96" x 33"

An Elaborate Method
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Earth from the Eastern Sierras, California, mixed media on canvas over panel
96" x 33"
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Life Without Constraint
Earth from the Eastern Sierras, California, mixed media on canvas over panel
96" x 33"

Zero Gravity
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Earth from the Eastern Sierras, California, mixed media on canvas over panel
60" x 44"
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The Way
Earth from the Eastern Sierras, California, mixed media on canvas over panel,
60" x 44"

A Wyld Place
Earth from the Eastern Sierras, California, mixed media on canvas over panel,
20" x 23"