Karen Pettengill

BIO

Karen Pettengill is a self taught contemporary Maine artist known for her richly colorful

paintings of animals, character filled buildings and scenery. She describes her work as intuitive

visual expressions of very personal experiences with cats, dogs, horses and remote places

discovered during hundreds of road trips with her husband in New England and across the US.

Her versatility in many mediums is evident in paintings worked in pastel, acrylic, casein,

watercolors, oil and scratch board. Karen’s first box of pastels, a set of luscious Grumbachers,

were her mother’s and she still has them.

Karen has exhibited in Maine Art Festivals including the juried Camden, Rockport,

Lincolnville 2 day show, as well as juried open and group shows in Maine and across the

country.

She’s worked as an illustrator, cartoonist, commission painter and has been curator at

Deertrees Theater Art Gallery in Harrison, Maine for several years. Karen enjoys bringing other

talented artists and craftspeople together for their summer season. She is a recipient of a group

grant from the Maine Arts Commission funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Karen

was recently awarded (2023) 1st place in the Western Maine Art Association Open Show held at

the Matolcsy Art Center in Norway, Maine, juried by David Little.

Karen’s family moved to Maine from upper New York state when she was 5 and has lived

here since then. When she and her husband owned an antique farm in Pownal she foraged for

wild plants to make nutritious teas and sold them along with her handmade craft items in her

farm shop. Their three young sons tagged along. Her studio is in the home she shares with her

husband of 54 years and is now in the pretty western Maine village of Harrison surrounded by

shimmering lakes and the foothills of the White Mountains.

www.karenpettengill.com