Karen Kosoglad stores memories of her former figure models, her Jewish immigrant-turned-printing-mogul-father and her loving mother, within layers of finished and unfinished paintings in her home art studio. Occasionally, she brings them out for the public to view. Most recently, Kosoglad’s show at the Lisa Harris Gallery in the Pike Place Market caught the attention of browsers and collectors alike.
Her well-attended and successful show at the gallery, “Small Works: Paintings and Collages,” proved that Kosoglad’s abstract figures of women and men contemplating the shoreline or beloved canine companions wandering the beach capture a decidedly Northwest point of view.
Kosoglad trained at the University of California at Santa Cruz in the tradition of the mid-century abstract expressionists who emerged there, such as Donald Weygant and Richard Diebenkorn. The Chicago native mainly studies the form and gesture of the “seated woman” in her work.
“I’m playing with a metaphysical landscape and how the figure becomes part of the landscape,” said Kosoglad in an interview with JTNews. “The “˜seated woman’ is the idea or the question of, what’s in front and what’s behind — that mystery of not knowing. And I love the female form, the rhythm and the shape of it.”
The small-scale figures are fully relaxed, engagingly aloof, and somewhat contemplative.
“It’s also about turning inward,” added Kosoglad. “Sometimes the face is more neutral — and there’s a balance between the real and realism. They are also about the banality and the priestliness of it, respecting the ordinary.”
Kosoglad also creates rhythmical collages with figure illustrations. These collages are combined with vintage paper, random phrases from old letters, and remnants of yellowed, mid-century sheet music given to her by her mother in Chicago and her father, before he died eight years ago in a car accident.
Like many Jewish immigrants before him, Kosoglad’s father came to America with next to nothing and created a thriving business for his family and children out of random “junk” he collected each day. He eventually built a thriving business selling industrial printing presses and related factory equipment.
“My grandfather fought in the Russian-Jewish War and immigrated to the United States after that,” Kosoglad said, reflecting on her Jewish background. “They ended up in Detroit.”
Kosoglad is the youngest of three brothers and sisters. She recalls how stubborn she was about developing her interests.
“I was 11 or 12 when I started oil painting,” said Kosoglad. “In high school, I loved the freedom that art was able to give to me. You have to pursue it and be tenacious. I needed it.”
Kosoglad went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts from UCSC in 1980, and a Master’s degree in education from City University in 1995.
Her work is held in private collections in Seattle, Chicago, New York, Boston, California, and Italy.
Reflecting on her younger years with respect, a certain sadness, and a profound sense of gratefulness, Kosoglad noted that her father had his own artistic talent that went unexplored.
“He didn’t pursue [his own art] because he felt that he needed to go out and make a living,” said Kosoglad. “This work is about memory and reflection. It’s a way to bring him back.”
Kosoglad now houses her father’s soon-to-be-antique printing presses, turn-of-the-century Hebrew printing type, and dozens of original typeface wooden block printing collections that once belonged to him and the business. She treasures them all.
“He had given me typeface and [his personal office] steno pads, and 75 drawers of wood type,” said Kosoglad.
Random phrases from the piles of old sheet music, letters, and paper materials her parents gave her appear randomly but meaningfully in the collage works, although she didn’t plan on it, said Kosoglad.
Although her work is not expressly Jewish, her background can’t help but infuse it. Ideally, she believes, an artist’s work should transcend his or her culture, but her father-inspired collage work that she also displayed in a previous show at the Columbia City Gallery has not only been a joy to make, but also reveals her ties to her Judaism today.
“I’m a very strongly identified Jewish woman,” said Kosoglad. “Judaism is open-ended and mysterious. It connects me to love, trust, and the ritual of community and coming together. There’s a beauty, an awe, and a sacredness. Every time I work, there’s an awareness that this is what Judaism is all about.”
Having lived in Washington since 1980, Kosoglad now has a strong connection to the Seattle area and has given back much to it, including 17 years of teaching K-12 students in the Seattle Public Schools. She’s also been a guest teacher in the King County Arts and Education program, and the Washington State Artist in Residence program. This fall, she will begin teaching art full-time at Nova High School in Seattle.
In fact, three of the models in many of the abstract figures in Kosoglad’s work are former art students she recruited as subjects when she taught in the Summit Arts Program. They are now grown young women.
“That’s Chloe, she’s in about half of them,” said Kosoglad. “I met her when she was in the 4th grade.”
Chloe is now 23 years old and living in Israel, she said.
“My teaching career has been a gift, as far as working with students in a real art studio and a creative environment,” she said. “I am hoping my new assignment will allow for this incredible kind of interactive and real honoring of creative potential for me as a teacher and for my students.”
Kosoglad is one of 28 artists featured in the 25th Anniversary Show now running at the Lisa Harris Gallery from Aug. 6 to Sept. 14 in the Pike Place Market. She has one painting on display and the gallery has several others stored there for visitors to see upon request.
“I feel very lucky to be here and honored to be a part of the gallery,” said Kosoglad. “I also feel very fortunate to have such a great artistic community here in Seattle that has been my support and base for all these years. Great friendships have grown out of our common interests and we continue to work side by side in many ways.”
Jewish on canvas
