When visual artist Karen Lehrer steps in front of a blank canvas, she has no idea where it will take her. Each piece — or series of pieces — develops organically, step by step, revealing itself to her as she applies color, shape, dimension, and depth. Her mixed media and collage paintings are a lot like life — layer upon textured layer, colors peeking through one another to build a rich, multi-hued history.
Lehrer’s work is currently on display at Santa Barbara Interiors, 10 E. Figueroa St. It is, in some ways, a dream come true for the painter who, as she said, “purposely creates artwork people want to hang on their walls and live with.”
For Lehrer, who is also a licensed marriage and family therapist, it’s not so much art as a statement or art with a message, but art that brings pleasure. “There’s a lot of very edgy contemporary work, and it has its place,” she said, “but it’s not what I want to do. People need something to hang above their sofa or in their dining room that pleases them, that makes them happy to look at.”