Kara Knutson is a painter of quiet emotional worlds.
Working in oil, she explores the tension between beauty and disappearance- each piece a meditation on longing, memory, and the unseen shape of emotion. Her work leans into romantic realism while veering gently toward the symbolic, often using floral forms and softened edges to speak to what slips away. Florals and figures serve not as subjects, but as vessels for longing, absence, and tender unrest. Drawn to moments of quiet rupture: the near-beautiful, the nearly vanished.
Kara lives and works in Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Artist CV
M.S. in Biomedical Microbiology, University of Florida, 2022
B.S. in Medical Laboratory Science, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 2012
Independent study in oil painting and drawing 2012-Present
EXHIBITIONS
The Art of Water IX, Group Exhibition, James May Gallery, Milwaukee, WI (May 2-June 1, 2025)
Upcoming: Private Studio Viewing to be announced, Oconomowoc, WI (2025)
REPRESENTATION
Boerner Botanical Gardens, Milwaukee, WI (2024- Present)
SELECTED WORKS AVAILABLE
Please email karaknutsonart@gmail.com
TEACHING and RELATED EXPERIENCE
Workshop instructor Lyon Road Art Academy (Waunakee, WI), 2025
Former professor of medical laboratory science- Madison Area Technical College
Independent educator in art, available for private or group art lessons