Karen Wicks

Karen Wicks is a UK printmaker based in the Midlands. Her printmaking practice is inspired by derelict buildings and captures the presence and intrigue of these abandoned structures using intaglio print techniques.

The Japanese notion of ‘wabi-sabi’ is central to her art practice, which celebrates beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete and the narrative of everyday and forgotten places inspires her to record these places using sustainable printmaking practices.

Her work explores low-fi home print techniques and uses recycled packaging which becomes fragile and disintegrates over time to reflect the subject matter of the ‘ghost buildings’ that inspire her.

Tetrapack RAF Upwood Graffiti.jpg
RAF Upwood Tower 2.jpg
squatters cottage.jpg
Hope 1.jpg
20220118125742075_0002.jpg
20210902100450748_0001.jpg
KWicks Crowland PoW Hut 1 small.jpg
KWicks Crowland PoW Hut 2 small.jpg
Sostilla 2 VE.jpg
Monte Blanc Hotel VE.jpg
Sostilla 1 AP.jpg
Victorian Mill 1 AP.jpg
Rhubarb Barn VE.jpg

play through printmaking

Keen to encourage others to experiment with printmaking from the dining table, I have created a number of short and accessible self-paced courses from this site:

  • Developing Drawing using Monoprinting

  • Tetrapak Printmaking for Beginners

  • Collagraph Printmaking for Beginners

  • Kitchen Lithography for Beginners

  • Printmaking using Packaging for Intermediate Printmakers (COMING SOON)

Courses can be accessed via the main menu navigation at the top of this page and are intended to work for beginners to follow in a pattern of building up in complexity in the order that they are presented in the menu.

I have also added three Membership Areas for those who would like access to additional resources to support their practice at home, but not requiring structured delivery via an online course.

I also offer School Workshops periodically through the school year.