Karen uses the British countryside as her inspiration. She was born and raised in Beverley, East Yorkshire. The granddaughter of a dairy farmer, her childhood and teenage years were spent in the countryside surroundings of a market garden. In 1997 she got a place at Sunderland University and moved to the city, where she completed a three year course in Glass and Ceramics. ‘Owing to my childhood as a country bumpkin, I had developed a strong interest in the natural world, and was always rescuing some injured animal to rehabilitate. I think it was these early encounters that got me truly interested in our local, British wildlife and how beautiful it is, especially up close. Once I had completed my BA Hons, I decided that this was the way I wanted to go with my sculptures, to in some way capture the things that I’d grown to love.’ Each piece Karen makes is moulded to a basic shape and then hand crafted and finished to achieve a very high standard of detail and realism. 'I aim to capture not just the look, but also the spirit or personality of the subject, which makes it appear much more alive.