Karen Thompson

Biography

Karen Thompson was born in Hull in 1959 and spent her childhood in Peterlee. Karen has worked abroad and lived in New Zealand for almost 20 years, but moved back to the north east of England in 2012. Karen trained for a year at the Sir John Cass School, of art London and then went on to train as a teacher and has successfully worked as both artist and teacher over the past years. Karen had her first exhibition when she was 17 years old and since then, she has worked as an artist in residence at the Hilton Hotel and at the annual MazdaArtWorks Exhibition in Auckland, New Zealand resulting in her artworks being sold internationally. Karen is currently working on building a new body of work based on her hiking trips across the UK and specifically the North East. She has always been drawn to the sky, landscapes, the sea and their many emotive states. Karen strives to harness the spirit of a place and convey its atmosphere. Karen’s inspiration comes from the light, weather, the landscape, and the ambience of a place. She is also inspired by her favourite artist J. M. W. Turner.