Artist Biography - Karen Leigh
A fourth-generation Montanan, Karen Leigh has lived in the Flathead Valley near Glacier National Park
since the early 1970’s. She is an honors graduate of Montana State University with a degree in graphic
design. For many years, however, her primary interest has been transparent watercolor and she has
studied under some of the finest masters of the medium including Irving Shapiro, Skip Lawrence,
Joseph Zbukvic and Carla O’Connor. Always on the lookout for ‘accidental magnificence’, she is
particularly interested in finding beauty in unexpected places. Junk yards and rusty machinery offer
many exciting possibilities but figures and urban landscapes have recently become important subjects
as well.
She is a long-standing faculty member at Flathead Valley Community College and also teaches
occasional workshops here and abroad. For ten years, in collaboration with calligrapher, Gini Ogle, she
designed and published a line of prints, posters, calendars and note cards which were marketed under
the name of Echo Designs. For three years running they were winners in the U.S. Postal Museum’s
international competition, “The Graceful Envelope.”
Karen’s work can be found in many private and public collections including the Beringer Wineries,
ConAgra Industries, the George W. Bush Presidential Library and the Smithsonian Institution. She has
also been featured in a number of arts magazines including Watercolor Magic, Watercolor magazine
and a special edition of Portfolio. In 2007 she was selected to design an ornament for the White House
Christmas Tree and she and other contributing artists were honored at a reception hosted by First Lady
Laura Bush in the White House. Most recently, Karen was accepted into the Northwest Watercolor
Society’s 85th Annual International Competition, one of only 80 selected artists from around the world.
She was an award winner in that competition and also gained NWWS signature status. A full-time
painter and signature member of the Montana Watercolor Society, she maintains a sunny studio in the
newly renovated Eastside Brick, formerly the old hospital, built in 1911. It is directly across the street
from Cornelius Hedges elementary school which was named after her great-grandfather who was the
territory’s first Superintendent of Public Instruction. An attorney and judge from Massachusetts, he
came west in 1864 and went on to become one of Montana’s foremost citizens. In 1870 he traveled to
what is now Yellowstone Park with the Langford-Washburn-Doane expedition and was the first to
advocate its creation as a national park.
In her spare time she enjoys traveling...with sketchbook in hand, of course...skiing, hiking and always
looking out for ‘accidental magnificence,’ much of which is to be found right here in the Flathead
Valley. A quote Karen found recently sums it up. “Art is not what you see. It’s what you make others
see.”
