About Karen Van Winkle
Knowledge Seeker/Believer in Love, Family & Humanity/Open Heart Advocate
Karen Michele Van Winkle has always been one to embrace life with open arms and an open heart. She grew up in a suburb of Chicago, IL and often went to work with her father on Saturday mornings when she was young. Her father, Terry, worked on an upper floor of the Opera Building, downtown. She would gaze down from the windows of his office and contemplate where all the people walking around the river were headed, and what was on their minds. She would notice how much of an impact the built environment could have on their daily lives and how it held the capacity to bring people together. Her mother was a very creative woman who loved Interior Design and brought Karen to many open houses. They enjoyed seeing how different houses were decorated and how it made them feel.
Early on it was apparent that Karen loved all forms of expression, including music, dance, art and design. At two years old, her sister’s dance teacher made an exception and allowed Karen to join the class since she couldn’t sit still when the music played {and she still can’t)! Baseball was also a family favorite, and by age five Karen had decided to become a pitcher for the NY Yankees. Her dad encouraged her by coaching her softball teams and letting her keep score for his games.
The family moved to Houston, TX when Karen was 11, and two years later, moved to San Diego, CA which was her home for most of her life. In seventh grade, Karen took a drafting class and found that she could combine her love of art and design with tools that could help depict the buildings and scenes she imagined in her head. She completed the semester of work in three weeks; and then started drawing floor plans and elevations of buildings. It was then that Karen decided she wanted to become an architect.
At sixteen, she ventured to the south of France as an exchange student. Although Karen felt at the time that she was meant for Paris, she embraced the quiet farm life just outside the little town of Saint Hilaire. This experience reminded her of just how similar people from all over the world are at their core, and just how beautiful and diverse humanity truly is. It also shaped her by giving her confidence and solidifying the thought that she could accomplish anything she set out to do!
Karen went on to attend Cal Poly, SLO and became an architect. She learned early in her career that she preferred being out on site, dealing with all the different stakeholders, rather than being behind a computer all day, so she worked her way to the Development side of the building industry. Karen has had a very successful career working for numerous major Developers and has been responsible for many successful projects throughout California, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, Texas and Abu Dahbi (UAE).
A few years ago, Karen found herself with more time on her hands than she had had in her many years of working long hours and raising a family. With the prodding of an insighful friend, she rekindled her love of painting …with a twist. She has embraced fluid art and mixed media, finding it relaxing and calming to the soul.
Since she can remember, Karen has wondered what it would be like to see through someone else’s eyes, literally. Similar to a rose is a rose, would she see red, but they call it blue? Why do colors invoke different feelings for different people? How does someone’s personality and beliefs shape their outlook on life, or the physical world? How can an image alter one’s mood or help find a deeper meaning to an emotion?
When asked what she paints, Karen often says “feelings”. Many of Karen Van Winkle’s pieces can be viewed in several different ways depending on the focus of the viewer. She has found that every person has their own unique perspective and outlook on life, which influences what they see. Karen finds these different perspectives fascinating and yearns to share this with others in hopes of expanding viewers’ awareness and acceptance of all perspectives to ultimately, in some small way, uplift humanity.
In 2022, Karen relocated to Nashville, TN to embrace her re-found love of music and art fulltime and is enjoying her new-found freedoms and passion for music and art.
