Karin Broker--

Karin Broker's work is a running narrative inquiry into the darker aspects of heterosexual intimacy, the discomfort of awkward introductions, the torment of having revealed too much, the painful aftermath of break-up and a spunky picking-up-the-pieces and moving on.

--Susanna Scheffieldfrom                                                                                                                                                                                           "Life in Black and White:                                                                                                                                                                                Houston Artist Karin Broker"                                                                                                                                                                         Museum and Arts Houston, September 1992

In 1992, Museum and Arts Houston featured a story on Karin Broker's work in the September issue.  As the magazine hit newsstands, Broker's work was being installed in two galleries:  "Searching for a Saint," a retrospective at Rice University's Sewall Gallery, and a show of new works at McMurtrey Gallery.  The article captured a moment in Broker's career when she was experimenting with Formica and crayon to create depictions of over bloomed flowers, representations of failed relationships and past loves. 

Broker is famous for these large works on Formica, which are usually about nine feet tall.  Broker works almost exclusively in black and white and attributes her limited palette to the opinion that "life is not in color, the situations are much more severe than that.  Life is black and white images" (Museum and Arts Houston 1992, 26).  Even without the literal color, her images are vibrant and luscious.

Besides drawing, Broker has also experimented with sculpture.  Nailing metal, wire, photographs and hundreds of milagros (small flat, tin ornaments shaped like body parts or everyday objects used in Mexican art as prayers or offerings), Broker covers the surface of boxes to create memorials to past boyfriends or celebrations of female friendships.

Since "Life in Black and White: Houston Artist Karin Broker" appeared, she has continued to evolve as an artist.  The large bouquets she creates on Formica are no longer wilting or mourning lost love.  Today the flowers are fresh and full in celebration of a happy marriage and career.

Broker was born in Penn, Pennsylvania in 1950.  After receiving her B.F.A. from the University of Iowa, Broker studied in France before completing her M.F.A. at the University of Wisconsin.  Not only has Broker become accomplished in  drawing, which she received two National Endowment for the Arts grants for, but has also received recognition as a printmaker.  In 1989, she was awarded a Mellon Fellowship.  Most recently, Broker was included in the 25th Edition of Who's Who in American Art. 

Broker has been a professor of printmaking at Rice University since 1980.  She is currently the Chair of the Visual Arts Department.

Broker's work has been exhibited globally, including shows in Korea, Iceland, Taiwan, and Germany.  Over 35 public collections include Broker's art, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Milwaukee Museum of Art, Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institute and the Irbit Museum in Russia.  Broker is currently represented by McClain Gallery in Houston, Texas.