Hi, I’m Karen Joan Watson, a Canadian writer and visual artist.
A sense of belonging is important to me – heart, family and genetics, and geography – meaning nature and a sense of place.
I think of my life in equal phases: 1) Growing up the oldest of seven kids – in Ottawa, Montreal, Germany, Quebec City, and the Gatineau Hills of Quebec; 2) Artist and writer, student – study, work, freelance writing, art, traveling to work in Germany, Vancouver, Victoria and Italy; 3) Raising a family, and Gov of Canada – writer-manager in marketing and communications, traveler; 4) Artist and writer, caregiver – living in the present.
As kids, we moved a lot, always returning to the Gatineau Hills of Quebec. I am inspired by patterns in nature, in culture and language, and in genetics – including a family genetic heart defect (BAV).
I resumed my art practice since retiring from the Government of Canada. Lucky to be part of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s “Portraits of Resilience“, and in the 2022 digital tribute in AGO’s major exhibition, “I AM HERE.”
As a writer, I changed to pursue creative writing, getting published in three anthologies and a Canadian literary magazine, ON SITE review 40. I write about my heart story, about caregiving for my elderly mother, about swimming, and of my love of books and libraries. I have a mystery or two in the works!
Eco-art is a focus of land art I do in the Gatineau Hills. It was exciting to present some eco-art talks in the tree- and music-loving Chris White’s Tree House at Trees Songs 3 and 4 (March 2022) and “Mother Hibiscus” at Save the Trees at the Ottawa Grassroots Festival (April 23, 2022),
It was fun to be interviewed in 2022 by Gail Watson, President and Founder of Women Speakers Association. We talked about the caregiving role and our elders with memory loss.
My eco-art is featured in the 2021 video Tree Songs 3 video – “Crown of Thorns.” I am a featured artist in the 2003 KAAI exhibition book (now Modern Fuel Artist-Run-Centre in Kingston, Ontario) Art for Earth’s Sake: The Millennium Project. I have been a highlighted artist on EcoArt Project online.
I speak about my eco-art and heart story in this 2021 video: “Karen Joan Watson, Eco-Artist and Author, Ottawa, Canada” (45 mins) by an Arts Vlogger on the “Multiple Arts” channel on Vimeo.
And in an August 2021 video interview “ABOUT WRITING” (20 mins), the co-founder of the Canadian Military Spouses Book Club, Christine Snider asked me thoughtful questions. It’s fun!
In January 2021, I was interviewed about my Heart story “The Answer is To Be!”: Video interview with publisher of Voices of the 21st Century, Gail Watson (11 mins).
To purchase books, send me a note through my Contact page.
Thanks, Karen
P.S. For REVIEWS of my writing and the anthologies I am part of, see the WRITING page, and Goodreads.com reviews ; Amazon.ca reviews (Canada and international); Amazon.com reviews (U.S.)
kjwatson.ca ART WRITE 