KAREN KNIGHT
Art Discipline(s)
- Fine Craft
Saint John | (506) 214-1869
Preferred School District(s)
- ASD-South
Preferred Grade Level(s)
- K-2
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Can provide residency in
- English
Indigenous Artist
- No
Completed Policy 701
- Yes
Space/Material Requirements
- Art room to be left set up preferably but not mandatory, clay, glazes and tools
Bio
Karen Knight is a local Artist Potter and juried member of Craft NB. She studied Fine Art in the late 1980’s and taught handbuilding classes from 1997 to 2003 for the City of Guelph. In 2004, Karen established her pottery business Soul Impression Handbuilt Claywork and Fine Sculpture, which is located at 1509 Rothesay Road, Saint John, N.B. She continues to pursue her love of teaching through her annual handbuilding class offered at the SJAC as well as her participation in the Artist-in-Residency Program since 2015. She is represented by Gallery 78 in Fredericton.
Residency Project
I have run a very successful Artist-in-Residency project called “Animals around the World” with 3 different schools. It works very well for primary and middle school aged students. The participating teacher indicated what areas of the world they wanted the students to study and then I determined what animals we would create to represent those regions. Usually, the students created 3 to 4 different clay animals. The students then created the habitats for their animals with their teachers. A gala event allowed parents to come and view the created animals in their habitats. This has been a very well received project.
My most recent project was taught at the high school level and centered around the creation of clay stamps and the subsequent use of those stamps to decorate clay objects the students would make. The project kicked off with students making a simple stamp. They took small objects of their choosing and impressed them into pieces of clay. The second stamp was much more challenging. First the students had to design an image for their stamp on paper and then that image was carved out of clay with special carving tools. Once their stamps were bisque fired in the kiln, the students used them to decorate their pinched bowl, tumbler and circle disk for a group piece. The project concluded with the students glazing their work using 2 different techniques.
I am open to entertain other projects that a teacher would like to propose. I have done four specialized projects in the past.
Teaching Experience
From 1997 to 2003, I taught children’s pottery classes for the City of Guelph Pottery Program in Ontario. Since 2015, I have participated in eight Artist-in-Residency Programs /ArtsSmart Programs.