Karen Ruyter
Karen has been an imaginative and creative soul since she was a small child. She loved to draw, paint, and play all sorts of make-believe games. Although her family did not consider her to be artistic and never encouraged her to explore it, she did it anyway by using her own initiative and enrolling in art classes whenever she could. Karen had many art teachers over the years none of whom really shared her enthusiasm of what creativity could do for the soul. Karen’s art teacher in grade 9, who was a nun, regularly destroyed her work as she felt that it did not depict the level of artistic talent that was the norm in the class. She can only remember one art teacher, Mr. Jones, her teacher in grade eleven, who saw something in her that no one else acknowledged. She still recollects what Mr. Jones regularly said: “Karen, you are the most creative and determined person I have come across in my years of teaching art.”
Karen spent many years building up a body of work during high school and beyond only having to lose it all in a move. After that she focused her life on raising a family and her work life. Karen did stay involved in art by painting occasionally in acrylic and oil as well as creating wall hangings in macrame. Her creativity did not stop with art, in her professional life as a college instructor then later a Director of Human Resources she brought creative ideas to students and staff to help them learn and grow - always looking for innovative and unique solutions to issues and problems.
In 2020 Karen moved to Johnstown, Ontario. While visiting the Purple Door, a bookstore off the 1000 Island Pkwy, she came across a tarot card reader who did a reading for her. The lady doing the reading said, “I don’t know exactly where this is coming from, but I see your hands in dirt and that there are people gathered around you seeming to learn from you.” Shortly after Karen was looking for a creative outlet and enrolled in a ceramics class with Krista Cameron at her studio in the Athens area. This was the beginning of Karen's love working in dirt, I.e., ceramics, pottery and clay. She took a few semesters of ceramic classes at Saint Lawrence College until the College discontinued the course as they need the space for nursing students. But that did not dissuade Karen. With the help of her husband, she set up a studio, Artist at Clay, in her home and purchased all the equipment so that she could start creating a new body of work.
You can now find Karen spending the better part of her day with her hands in dirt creating unique pieces of art.
Karen spent many years building up a body of work during high school and beyond only having to lose it all in a move. After that she focused her life on raising a family and her work life. Karen did stay involved in art by painting occasionally in acrylic and oil as well as creating wall hangings in macrame. Her creativity did not stop with art, in her professional life as a college instructor then later a Director of Human Resources she brought creative ideas to students and staff to help them learn and grow - always looking for innovative and unique solutions to issues and problems.
In 2020 Karen moved to Johnstown, Ontario. While visiting the Purple Door, a bookstore off the 1000 Island Pkwy, she came across a tarot card reader who did a reading for her. The lady doing the reading said, “I don’t know exactly where this is coming from, but I see your hands in dirt and that there are people gathered around you seeming to learn from you.” Shortly after Karen was looking for a creative outlet and enrolled in a ceramics class with Krista Cameron at her studio in the Athens area. This was the beginning of Karen's love working in dirt, I.e., ceramics, pottery and clay. She took a few semesters of ceramic classes at Saint Lawrence College until the College discontinued the course as they need the space for nursing students. But that did not dissuade Karen. With the help of her husband, she set up a studio, Artist at Clay, in her home and purchased all the equipment so that she could start creating a new body of work.
You can now find Karen spending the better part of her day with her hands in dirt creating unique pieces of art.
