Kara Maria, Dot Dot Dot, acrylic on paper, 8" x 8"

American, b. 1968, playing from San Francisco, CA, USA

Kara Maria’s work is a visual dialogue between abstraction and representation in paintings, drawings, and prints. In many pieces nonobjective elements commingle with figurative forms, but recently she has been working simultaneously on series that allow one or the other to dominate more fully. Although many issues are referenced, the work itself remains non-linear, seeking to raise questions rather than to give answers.

After beginning college at a music conservatory on the East Coast, transferring through a few different schools, and spending a year studying and traveling in Europe, Kara Maria moved to San Francisco in 1990 to attend the University of California, Berkeley. There she earned a BA in Art Practice in 1993, followed by an MFA in 1998. Maria is currently an Instructor in the Public Education Department at the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA; and has taught at other Bay Area universities and colleges as well.

Maria’s work can be found in permanent collections including the San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA; the di Rosa Preserve, Napa, CA; the de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA among others. She has been the recipient of awards such as a Masterminds Grant from the SF Weekly, San Francisco, CA; a grant from Artadia, New York, NY; and an Eisner Prize from the University of California, Berkeley. Presses including Gallery 16, San Francisco; Shark’s Ink, Lyons, CO; and Smith Andersen Editions, Palo Alto, CA have published her prints. Maria is represented by Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA. For more information please visit www.karamaria.com.

Thoughts on the Telephone process

I thought the process was really fun. I also play music, so translating information from music into painting was not difficult for me.