Karen Stryker’s Resume 5/30/19
Karen was 3 years old when she began trying to draw her favorite plastic horses; always saying her goal was to be an artist. At 9 years old when her parents seen her artistic talent & love of drawing horses, they had her graduate from a several year home school “Art Institute”.
She proceeded to get a Fine Arts Degree, after doing 3+ years in a nursing program & working in the hospitals. When she could not make enough monies when trying to sell large paintings at Seattle’s Pike Place market, she proceeded to get 2 education, psychology & computer science degree, still hoping to return to doing art again.
After raising 3 children as a single mom while working as a programmer & systems analyst, Association for Women In Computing President, administrator, K-12 teacher (had 7 teaching endorsements), co-owner of an RV, Tent & Cabin Resort for 13 years; Karen continued traveling to 53 countries, visiting every museum & churches possible. She created a 60’ x4’ intricate tile mural at their business which showed all the 30 different activities to do in the area & several 14’ x 9’ intricate tile murals locally.
After 40 years of busy long hours’ careers, she was able to step into ‘retirement heaven’; doing what she always yearned for: oil & acrylic painting, silversmith, wire wraps, wood sculptures, huge tile murals, & self-published a book called ‘Silent Think Time’. She also stays busy hiking, gardening, traveling & taking art classes at Phoenix’s Scottsdale Art Institute.
For almost 20 years Karen & her husband have been doing 3-12 arts & craft shows in AZ, WA, MT, CO, ID & ND each year. She has had a few items in some galleries.