“I see my work from two sides,” states California metalsmith Karen Gilbert. “One is the exploration of materials, the other is the content of my ideas. The functional forms in nature and science, put together, are those we find familiar. I see these most primal forms as roadmaps for everything we think and feel. The smallest can be visual representation of the larger complexity. What is underneath the surface is what I choose to explore. I try to question ideas about where comfort and beauty are found. The objects I make are my expressions of a new narrative.”

Karen, who maintains a studio in Sebastopol, CA, studied at The University of San Francisco, California College of Arts and Pilchuck Glass School in Washington. Her work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Tacoma Art Museum.