BIO
Karen Pape is a Charlottesville, VA based photographer who creates evocative emotional landscapes, using semi-abstraction to explore liminal spaces and blur the lines between what is seen and unseen, real and imagined.
A graduate of the University of Virginia, Pape built and ran a successful valuation business before ultimately returning to her first love, photography. She has developed multiple bodies of work while studying at Los Angeles Center of Photography, Maine Media, Nobechi Creative, and Santa Fe Workshops.
Pape has had numerous solo shows and her series De-Circulated has received critical acclaim. Her award-winning photography has been widely exhibited in juried exhibitions. Her work is held in private and public collections.
She is currently an MFA student at Maine Media.
CV
Solo Exhibitions:
Elegy, Angelo Gallery, Charlottesville, VA, 2025
De- Circulated, University of Virginia School of Law, 2024-2025
De-Circulated, The Library Institute, New Haven Connecticut, Summer, 2024
De-Circulated, McGuffey Art Center, January, 2024
From the Deep Heart’s Core, Chroma Arts Gallery, Charlottesville, VA, April 2023
Dreams of Africa, Speak!, Charlottesville, VA, March 2019
Between Heaven and Earth, Live Arts Theater, Charlottesville, VA, March 2018
The Geography of Grief, Piedmont Virginia Community College, (recipient of annual show), 2017
Group Exhibitions:
A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, Texas, “Water” (Catherine Couturier, Juror) 2025
Houston Center for Photography 42nd Annual Center Exhibition, ( Dr. Rebecca Senf, Juror) 2025
Southeast Center for Photography , Telling Tales (Frances Jakubek, Juror) 2025
Blue Raven Gallery, Rockland, Maine, April 2024
A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, Texas, ”Portal” (Crista Dix, Juror), 2023
Southeast Center for Photography, Contemporary Landscapes, (Stephen Johnson, Juror), 2023
D’Art Gallery, Norfolk, Virginia, “Portrayed: d’Art’s Third Annual Juried Exhibition of Portraiture,” June, 2023
Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, “Poetic Storytelling,” May, 2023
McGuffey Art Center, various exhibits, 2022, 2023
D’Art Gallery, Denver, Colorado, “Conceptual Images,” 2022
A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, Texas, “Vistas”, (George Nobechi, Juror) 2021
Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, “Landscapes,” 2021
Publications
Greater New Haven Arts Council “Banned Books Spotlighted at the Instiute Library”, May, 2024
New Haven, Independent “ Ulyssess and Lolita and the Master & Margarita”, June, 2024