Vibe Spring2025 - Flipbook - Page 30
ART IN THE VALLEY
THE ART OF KAREN EISENBERG By Karissa Masse
WiseguyCreative.com photo
Forging Jewelry from Tradition
“I love to work with my hands and let my hands do the work more than relying on machines.
There is something very empowering and satisfying about moving metal, something
that you can’t just move with your fingers. To be able to bend it and transform it.”
E
very year, the Mt. Washington Valley
blooms in population as the summer
tourist season begins, but, in fact,
we are a small community. With about
2,100 residents in North Conway, we
regularly see our friends and neighbors
in the grocery store, at the library, or on
the trails. At times we’ll bump into an
old teacher, or an important person who
influenced us along our paths through
life. For me, Karen Eisenberg is one of
these people.
I am an artist and gallery owner in
North Conway, and as I reflect on the path
that took me to where I am today, Karen
stands out as a pivotal influence. An
accomplished metalsmith and jewelry designer who now showcases in my gallery,
Karen first appeared in my life in 1992 as
the new art teacher at Fryeburg Academy.
As a budding artist in my sophomore
year, I was enthralled with her completely
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novel approach to what became my first
experience with fine art. Although I had
previously developed some drawing
skills, Karen’s completely academic
approach, steeped in the rich traditions
of ancient masters, drew me into a
captivating world of Art with a capital
“A.” The tacky craft projects and chalky
tempera paint I had previously known
were suddenly replaced with academic
studies in contrast, values, proportions,
and balance. We sat in dimly lit rooms,
rendering moody still-life drawings. We
wrestled with aluminum wire, turning
lines into sculptural forms. We used fat
Sharpies, completely shielded from our
view, blindly exploring the contour lines
of a live model—typically a fellow student
standing up on top of the tables.
Karen came to the arts at an early
age. She grew up in Pomona, NY, a creative community just outside of NYC that
is home to a lot of artists and musicians.
At age 14, her family moved to Randolph,
NH, which she described as a “difficult
transition.” Since the public-school
academics there were lagging behind
her old school, she was placed into
higher-level classes to compensate. The
new school also couldn’t accommodate
her hunger for art and music (she had also
been studying cello), so her parents finally
enrolled her at Gould Academy in Bethel,
ME, for her junior and senior years. Gould
had a strong art program, and she found an
influential guide and mentor in Jim Owen,
her ceramics and metalsmithing teacher.
“He was someone I was afraid of, but
he was also really encouraging. He made
big, beautiful Japanese-looking pots and
always encouraged us to focus on form.
He’d tell you to stop, get off your [pottery]
wheel, and look at your pot from far
away. And he wanted us to leave some
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