Karen Schwartz is an Atlanta- and New York City-based artist who mostly paints and draws. She’s also a clinical psychologist and finds that her practice informs her art in fascinating ways and that her studio practice offers curious insights into her work as a psychotherapist. (Photo by John Paddock)
My choice of who to paint is always dictated primarily by artistic considerations. I choose faces that snag my attention aesthetically. Drawing and painting are ways to figure out, to make meaning of what interests me visually. In the case of a portrait, I am interested in capturing some recognizable essentiality that identifies my subject. Prior to creating a portrait, it rarely occurs to me to articulate what that is to myself in words. I have trusted that the actions involved in creating a portrait — looking, mark-making — will carry nonverbal, unprocessed meanings that visual representation can render available to conscious awareness to me and my viewers.