Karen Karg, Metalsmith and Glass Artist

For metalsmith and glass artist, Karen Karg, the joy of creating is in the process. Coming up with an idea for each piece and using imaginative problem-solving skills to go from vision to reality is what she loves best about crafting her line of jewelry.

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Karen fuses layers of colored and dichroic glass, which she cuts into shapes to set like jewels into her work. She uses copper, brass, and argentium silver, known for tarnish-resistant and nickel-free properties, giving her flexibility in highlighting different hues and characteristics of the glass. With an intuitive sense of color, Karen combines the shades and textures of glass and metal along with freshwater pearls and other materials, letting the vision for her work develop organically.

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Combining metalsmithing with glass art is a culmination of what is old and new in Karen’s life. She started her creative pursuits in metalsmithing when she was a student at North High School in Wichita, Kansas, and furthered her studies in Maui, Hawaii, at the Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center and in Wichita, Kansas at Wichita CityArts. Karen has explored working creatively in other mediums. She’s published a book of poetry and had her bronze sculptures shown at the Maui Airport. She’s had a successful business selling meditation benches. She’s also sold custom purses made from leather and wood  in a gallery in Malibu, California.

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When Karen moved back to Wichita, Kansas, and mutual friends introduced her to her future husband, glass artist and sculptor Rollin Karg, she knew nothing about glass. He invited her to learn and encouraged her to combine her experience in metalsmithing with glass. Her new jewelry line has taken her life-long passion for making jewelry, coupled with the new loves in her life, to embody a fun, playful brightness.

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Karen is inspired by nature and loves to go fishing and kayaking with her husband. Being on the water balances her and brings the solitude she needs to refresh creatively.