A:        While still only 26 years old and working as an instructor at Cornell College in Iowa, Karen Gunderson mounted her first solo exhibition in Racine, Wisconsin and later in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.  From 1970 to 1973, she taught at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, and in 1973 she moved to New York, where she taught at New York University in the School of the Arts for three years.  She has been living and working in New York ever since.”    Exactly when, how and where did you begin your first important pictorial period, the Clouds?

K:        I began making constructions using clouds as images within Plexiglas boxes in 1967 in Iowa, but the paintings of clouds began in 1972 when I was teaching at Ohio State.  They were enamel spray painted images of clouds with secondary images of animals on muslin backed seamless paper.

A:        How long did you paint clouds?

K:        From 1972 until 1989, and then two commissions later in 1995/6 and then another in 2000.

A:        What was the scale of the cloud paintings?

K:        They ranged from 3 x 5 inches to 21 feet wide and 17 feet high.  Most were in the range of 5 x 7 feet and 7 x 9 feet.

A:        Why such big paintings?

K:        The scale was the sky itself, and I wanted to help the viewer imagine and place themselves within the perimeters of the painting.  I also loved painting big.  To capture the essence of the clouds I could use large, sweeping motions.  It was a great feeling.