Biography Karen Halbert, Mathematician/Artist

Karen at the Marigold Arts Exhibition: Return to the Rivers
Karen Halbert is a full time landscape painter, primarily of the Southwest. She was torn away from careers in mathematics and computers to follow her life-long passion: painting. Though she paints in the Southwest, she also captures the images that permeate her dreams – of the powerful ocean waves of the Pacific, home of her childhood. 
Driven by the purity of elements of mathematics, found in areas such as dynamic symmetry and chaos theory, she strives to go far beyond her analytical training. The logic of composition and pattern is second nature to Halbert; she is free to experiment with other aspects that help her capture the underlying beauty of the natural world. Her training in the Classical techniques as well as Impressionism serve her well. She can concentrate on capturing the beauty of the landscape surrounding her.

Driven by the light of the southwest, Halbert made a conscious life-style decision to move to Santa Fe. She also wanted to return to her roots in the west. It is here that she has found a true artist’s home. Halbert displays her work throughout the country from Woodstock to the Old Town in Albuquerque as well as in Canyon Road and various shows for the Plein Air Painters of New Mexico. She is represented by the Marigold Arts Gallery on Canyon Road, Santa Fe and the Purple Sage Gallery in Albuquerque.  You may also view her works on her website, www.karenhalbert.com.

Halbert is very active in the Plein Air Painters of New Mexico (PAPNM), serving as the volunteer Website Administrator. She is currently working on a major conversion of the website to a state-of-the-art system using her design and computer skills; the work is recalling the many years she spent managing the development of user systems on Wall Street with the NYSE. 

Karen: “My paintings go beyond my analytical training and reflect the depth of nature’s magnificent diversity. The logic of composition, edges, values and pattern is second nature to me. I can concentrate and subject's quality, reaching for deeper meaning and the underlying essence of life. Painting on location, ‘en plein air’, enables this subliminal reaction, resulting in paintings that I wish to share.”


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