The cultural theorist and activist bell hooks writes, “What we cannot imagine, cannot come into being”. This is the ethos of my work. My not-so-secret agenda is one of liberation, love, justice, joy, beauty, and pleasure. Through my work, I call in futures where we are all liberated, loved in our wholeness, and fully resourced.

I make objects, sounds, images and installations that, paradoxically, evoke the intangible essence of things. While I use a wide range of media, glass and sound are central to this endeavour. Glass holds light; sound transmits vibration. Both mediums speak the language of the mystical. Sound, music and live performance also offer me a way to tune spaces, connect directly with my audience, and anchor in a literal frequency of love.

My work is queer, feminist (intersectional), playful, sex-positive, tongue-in-cheek and pro-radical craft. Audre Lorde’s essay, “Uses of The Erotic; The Erotic as Power”, and “Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good” by adrienne maree brown, are long-standing influences. My practice functions as a response to the kyriarchal attempt to separate bodies from spirit, sexuality from divinity, and distort sacred truths. In feminist theory, kyriarchy is a social system or set of connecting social systems built around domination, oppression, and submission.

Much of the research and practices that are dismissed as "pseudo-science" are deeply connected to ancient and indigenous knowledge. My work embraces healing technologies, free energy and accessible resources that cannot be patented. Universal geometry and mineral specimens, for example, are used as a way to embed subtle energy in the work and connect us to a theory of everything.

My artist coven includes Yoko Ono, Hilma af Klint, Sinéad O’Connor, Nikola Tesla (my birthday twin), adrienne maree brown, Masaru Emoto, Hildegard, Wilhelm Reich, Sappho, and Enya among others.

Karen Donnellan (they/she) is an artist, energy healer, and educator. They received a Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Glass from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland and a Master of Fine Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, US.

Karen’s solo exhibitions have included ‘Cosmic Wetness at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin; Essentia at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY; Arc at Kitchen Table Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Cercle at the National Craft Gallery, Ireland; Musica Universalis at Williams Gallery, IN; and O at Gallery Kunstler, Rochester, NY.

They have participated in residencies at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France; Women’s Studio Workshop, NY; Creative Glass Center of America, NJ; Toledo Museum of Art, OH; and the Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland among others. Their work is held in public and private collections; including the Corning Museum of Glass, NY, Glasmuseet, Denmark; Museum of American Glass, NJ; and the Murano Museum of Glass, Italy.

From 2014-2022 they served as Director of the National Casting Center Glass Studios, and Associate Professor of Glass within the Sculpture/Dimensional Studies Program at Alfred University, NY. After receiving promotion and tenure in 2020, they became Chair. Karen is now based in Dublin, Ireland at the Dean Art Studios.

For enquiries and bookings, email karen [at] karendonnellan [dot] com or use the form below.