In her oil painting, Karen Chan embraces the chiaroscuro style, which focuses on deep contrast and vibrant colors. Photos: T.W. Jack Co.
For Karen Chan, art has always been second nature. From a young age growing up in northern Malaysia, she could be found with a pencil in hand, doodling on walls, furniture and her school work. “I just love visual art,” Chan says. “It has always been a part of my life.”
Her family was supportive of her passion at the start. Chan’s grandfather would bring home art supplies and even commissioned Chan to create holiday decorations. But, as she grew older, the family’s initial support changed to disapproval. “They know that I love art very much, but they thought that art should be considered a hobby—not a profession,” Chan says.
The sentiment stuck. It wasn’t until 2008, when she moved to the United States with her husband and children at the age of 42, that her perspective shifted. Chan says the creative resources, culture and opportunity in Minnesota allowed her to consider a different path. “My passion and my love for art started becoming alive again,” Chan says. “I feel so loved, so accepted. I feel like this is where I belong.”
Karen Chan
Her three children were her first students. As they grew, Chan stoked their creativity with hands-on art projects. She enjoyed these lessons so much that she began to consider new ways to share her skills with the broader community. She approached Ramsey County Library and offered to be an art instructor. “The response was so overwhelming,” she says. “I had people on the waitlist.”
Along the way, Chan’s daughter, Corynn, encouraged her to try oil painting. While Chan was intimidated by the medium, she ultimately took a class and fell in love. “As a painter, there’s no end to learning … to be able to paint you actually must learn how to see things,” Chan says. “It’s up to you to bring your painting to life.”
Chan is especially drawn to chiaroscuro, a painting style defined by an embrace of contrast with deep shadows and shocking highlights. She loves painting still lifes, especially those with bold-colored fruit, like apples and pumpkins.
Nearly 15 years after her first class, Chan teaches painting to students across the Metro. At Ramsey County Library and other state library systems, she hosts a two-hour adult acrylic painting workshop. She also is the instructor for a beginners still life oil painting class at White Bear Center for the Arts (WBCA). These classes are open to artists of all skill levels and span four weeks with students completing a single painting by the end. “Her students always have amazing things to say, and [they] come back again and again,” says Libby Herrmann, WBCA program manager. “She’s really built a consistent group of artists who take her class every month.”
Chan also offers custom art experiences, including commissioned work and group painting events for corporate team building, fundraising and celebrations. Her step-by-step teaching style ensures that students of all abilities can follow along. “She is a bubbly person. Very positive and always smiling,” says John Schmidt, one of her students at WBCA.
With a growth in confidence and skill, Chan sells her work on her website and eBay. A recent customer bought a painting of an onion for her mother, reminded of the onions her father, a farmer, once grew. “I’m moved that my painting plays a part in somebody else’s story … that it will mean something, [and] it’s not just a pretty painting on a wall,” Chan says.
Karen Chan
Facebook: Karen Chan Art
Instagram: @karenchanart
