Karolyn Alexander’s solo show of more than 100 acrylic abstracts and collage and watercolor paintings, “Art From My Heart,” will be exhibited at the Whitewater Arts Alliance’s (WAA) Cultural Arts Center (CAC), 402 West Main Street from May 2-26, Thursdays through Sundays from noon until 5 p.m.

Karolyn will host an Artist’s Reception on Sunday May 5 from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. at the CAC.  The reception is free and open to the public.  

Karolyn is a lifelong Whitewater resident and with the encouragement of her father, the late Richard Kettwig, has had a passion for art starting in childhood. She has enjoyed mixing colors and making plain surfaces more colorful since her first box of Crayola crayons. As a youngster she experimented with creating new colors by layering one crayon color over another. The passion for color and color mixing remains today as she uses watercolor, acrylic and collage to make watercolor paper and canvas surfaces more colorful.

An early retirement from UW-Whitewater as an IT training coordinator permitted her to focus on art. In April of 2003 she began taking watercolor classes from the late Marilyn Keating at L’Atelier Art Studio in Janesville. Since then she has taken workshops with Kari Anderson, Shelby Keefe, Ratindra Das, Karen Ragus and Laura Lein-Svencner among others. In addition to watercolor, she enjoys doing collage and most recently creating acrylic abstracts. Regardless of the medium she finds delight in experimenting with and using color.

Karolyn said, “I have written a book titled ‘Watercolor Cookbook-Recipes for Mixing Delicious Color’ which includes tips on mixing watercolor paints plus over 60 full color photographs of my watercolor paintings. Many of my paintings can be viewed on my web site www.karolyn.biz. I teach adult watercolor and collage classes in Whitewater and Janesville and on occasion in other locations such as Milwaukee and Jefferson.  Color is everything!”

This exhibit of her work at the Whitewater Cultural Arts Center includes watercolor, collage and acrylic paintings, with varied subject matter from representational to abstract. The abstracts are from some of the series on which she has been working. The series represented in this exhibit include Rhythm, Mark Making and Texture.

WAA President Megan Matthews said, “Karolyn’s artwork is a wonderful, colorful mix of ideas and concepts that invite us to see the world in a new way.  I encourage everyone to stop by during the show, to see the incredible talent of one of our local artists.”

The Cultural Arts Center is located on 402 West Main Street in the historic White building near the Birge Fountain. Parking is behind the building. An elevator is available for access from the parking lot entrance. 

The mission of the Whitewater Arts Alliance is to promote the visual and performing arts through an alliance of artists, individuals, educational resources, and organizations to promote creativity and diversity that will serve to educate and enrich the lives of the residents of the Whitewater community and surrounding areas.