Bio

Karen Vanderpool-Haerle is both classically and self trained in art, illustration and immersive art. She is focused on creating and displaying traditional and immersive art in the mixed reality space, the space between the real world and the virtual world.  She is producing artwork intended to introduce Extended Reality (XR) to the general public as an art form. Karen is initially attracted to a scene for its geometric relationships, rhythm or by a striking color contrast or harmony. The interaction of color and composition evolves to describe the world through her eyes. She has created art for traditional and immersive spaces and is committed to exploring the convergence of the digital and physical worlds. She especially enjoys exploring topics dealing with ecology and the environment.

Her primary traditional mediums are pastel, acrylic and oil. She works with layers of color to create images with depth and interest involving geometric relationships and striking color contrasts and harmonies. Her virtual reality and augmented reality art is created in Tiltbrush, Openbrush, Gravity Sketch as well as other virtual reality painting and sculpting programs

When not hanging out in Dallas with her family and great pyrenees mixes, she enjoys hiking, kayaking and most other outdoor activities. Karen is especially fond of the beach, the New Mexico landscape and Vinalhaven, Maine.

Karen’s education consists of an MA in Biomedical Communication/Medical Illustration from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and a BA from Austin College.

Artist Statement

I am predominantly an observational painter but I observe in order to change it, to create an emotional response to the landscape- to paint more than I see, to paint the wind and the sun and the changing light. Every environment is a new experience. Sometimes it’s about color or light and sometimes it’s about drawing, marking and scraping back into the paint to create a dialogue with the canvas, creating layers of paint or pastel that interact with one another and create something new.

I am currently exploring the subject of the rejuvenation of the blackland prairies and our natural landscape. How the landscape feels with the wind and the movement of the grasses, trees, clouds, pollinators. I am exploring how all of these elements coexist, change, adapt and keep the universe in balance.

I also paint and sculpt in virtual reality and am exploring similar ideas such as the our environment and rewilding our world. I am currently working to bring my real world works and my virtual reality works together into the mixed reality space, the space where the real world and the virtual meet to create a new work of art.