ARTIST STATEMENT
Karoline Schleh’s drawings, paintings, and prints are rendered with a distinct atmospheric quality and longhand backwards script, which she has developed over the past 25 years. Her most recent compositions, inspired by landscape study, weather systems, and the human form, reference subjects with which she has been engaged throughout her career. In these works, handwriting functions as both word and image, highlighting its connections to drawing, observation, and contemplation.
Karoline Schleh has her artist studio in New Orleans, and is an Assistant Professor of Art at Loyola University. She has artwork in the collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana State Museum, and The New Orleans Arts Council, as well as in numerous private collections.
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Karoline’s work attests to what may be imperceptible to the living – the shifts in handwriting style that can make 100-year-old letters nearly illegible to untrained contemporary viewers, even if written in the reader's native tongue. And, perhaps, to the eventual possibility of the loss of languages themselves, as when the news announces, all too often, that the last native speaker of yet another indigenous language has died. Karoline’s gestural reversals, which in truth can be deciphered, nevertheless raise the question of our assumptions about decipherability, literacy, and more broadly, communication in general: its effectiveness, possibilities, and potential for misunderstanding, but also to the beauty of the forms of signifiers, spoken or written, when freed from obligation to their signifieds. Karoline’s word ghosts call our attention to the potentials of words: words set to music, or words in a poem whose weighty presence expands exponentially when liberated from daily use and given the chance to fully mean, and yet also to be part of a powerful and deliberate slippage of meaning from word to word. They remind us that, since we can’t not try to read them, that we are born into language as into the air we breathe, and that our psyches, our neural connections, are formed and changed based on the words around us. As much as water or carbon, we are formed by words, made of words and their echoes. Reversed, Karoline's letters and words lose their specific signification and are free to evoke letters - that is, epistles, not characters - and the already antiquated joy of seeing the handwriting of one's beloveds.
~ Dr. Elizabeth Howie, Ph. D Art History, University of North Carolina
EDUCATION
1994 Louisiana State University, MFA Baton Rouge, LA
1990 Newcomb, Tulane University, BFA New Orleans, LA
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2004-Present Collins C. Diboll Art Gallery, Gallery Director New Orleans, LA
2002-Present Loyola University, Assistant Art Professor New Orleans, LA
EXHIBITIONS
2017
Loyola Art Faculty Spotlight Exhibition
Collins C. Diboll Art Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Karoline Schleh & Bradley Sabin
Ann Connelly Art Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA
2016
29th September Competition
Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA
Enscribe: A group show exploring processes of memory, inscription, and entanglement The Front Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2015
Louisiana Contemporary
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
REVERB: Past, Present, and Future Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
More Media : Performative/Interactive
Carroll Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
ARTi(FICTION): The Battle of New Orleans Studio Inferno Art Gallery, Arabi, LA,
2014
Art & Design Faculty Exhibition
Collins C. Diboll Gallery, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
2013
Confabulation
Kirin Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Karoline Schleh: August Splash Exhibition Ann Connelly Art Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA,
black white and things
Carroll Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
2012
Bobbery (deris + schleh collaborations) Sibley Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Bobbery: new collaborative works by Deris & Schleh Staple Goods Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Penny Arcade
Eichold Gallery, Springhill College, Mobile, AL
2011
Poetry & Motion - Karoline Schleh & Demond Matsuo
Reynolds Ryan Gallery, Isidore Newman School, New Orleans, LA
Text/Image
Carroll Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Bookmarks: The Artists’ Response to Text New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
2010
Stare: What Wild New World Is This? Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans, LA
The Power of Place
Grand Isle Community Center, Grand Isle, LA
2009
Hot Up Here (LA Biennial) Dan Cameron curator Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
& Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA
1992-2008: Artist Collaborations at Marais Press UL Museum, Lafayette, LA
Prints Past and Prints Present, George Roland curator New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Spontaneity and the Sub-Conscious
Ann Connelly Art Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA
Mind's Eye:Without Subject Matter, What Does the Artist See?
George Roland curator, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
2008
Stereo View: New Works Karoline Schleh Micaela Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Pencil and Paper Group Exhibition
Collins C. Diboll Art Gallery, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
2007
Outlines: New Works Karoline Schleh
Ann Connelly Art Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA
2006
Stereo: New Works Karoline Schleh Jenkins Connelly Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Cranbrook Academy of Art 8th Annual Chair Show Cranbrook Academy of Art Gallery, Detroit, MI
2006
Comfort of Home
Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
Art from the Gulf: Reflections on Katrina Pyramid Atlantic, Silver Springs, MD
Persephone's Spring: Return from Exile
Carroll Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Chalkboards
Rebus Works Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Made in New Orleans (traveling exhibition) Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
Saltline Biennial
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
Still Life
Ann Connelly Collection, Baton Rouge, LA
Birdspace: A Post Audubon Aviary (traveling exhibition) Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
2004
Hypergraphia
4th Floor Gallery, Soho Letterpress, New York, NY
Idle Hands
Delgado Art Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2003
Smoke, Water, and Writing: New Works Karoline Schleh Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2002
The Current Image: A collaboration of
Contemporary Louisiana Printmaking & Commentary University of Louisiana Art Gallery, Lafayette, LA
Quiet Water: Louisiana Printmakers
Delgado Art Gallery, Curator Phyllis McGibbon, New Orleans, LA
2001
Karoline Schleh: Mirror Writing Eichold Gallery, Springhill, AL
Karoline Schleh Drawings
Ann Connelly Collection, Baton Rouge, LA
Karoiine Schleh: Mirror Writing Eichold Gallery, Springhill, AL
Karoline Schleh Drawings
Ann Connelly Collection, Baton Rouge, LA
2001
Cities and Desire, (the invisible city) The Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Works on Paper
Mario Villa Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2000
Mixed Media Drawings by Karoline Schleh Pensacola Junior College, Pensacola, FL
Scribe
Delgado Art Gallery, New Orleans, LA
The Printed Image: Stone, Wood, Zinc, & Silk The Opelousas Museum of Art , Opelousas, LA
Awards & Honors
2017
Love in the Garden 2017, New Orleans Museum of Art - Honored artist
Lecture: Karoline Schleh: Mirror Writing ~ National Association of Document Examiners Conference , New Orleans, LA
2015
Collector's Club Print - Artist for 2015 Contemporary Art Center Silver Circle New Orleans, LA
2012
Studio Assistantship, Penland School of Art & Craft Penland, NC
House & Home exhibition (ongoing) National Building Museum, Washington D.C.
Studio Assistantship, Letterpress & Book Arts Studio Penland, NC Penland School of Art & Craft
2010
Juror for St. Tammany Art Association Annual Exhibition Hammond, LA Award of Excellence, 8th Annual Juried Exhibition Grand Isle, LA
2008
Juror for Take 5 Exhibition by the Mobile Arts Council Mobile, AL
2006
Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant New York, NY
Joan Mitchell Foundation, Artist Support Grant, New York, NY American Association of American Curators, Grant Award, Houston, TX
2005
Arts Council Grant awarded for curating New Orleans, LA Louisiana in Print exhibition.
Louisiana Division of the Arts Curatorial Grant, lost intentions: ovary and oculus exhibition, New Orleans, LA
2001
Artel Honorarium, Guest Lecture Series Artel Arts Center, Pensacola, FL
Artwork Purchase 2001, Percent for Art Program New Orleans, LA
Arts Council of New Orleans
2000
Outstanding Teaching 1999-2000
Newcomb College, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
1998
Internship, Harvey Littleton Studios Spruce Pine, NC
Kotaro Hamada Scholarship to Florence Florence, Italy
The New Orleans School of GlassWorks
1994
Internship, Vinalhaven Press Vinalhaven, ME
PUBLICATIONS
2017
Nell Nolan: LOVE in the Garden; Belles and Beaus , The Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA
Sue Strachen, In love with Love in the Garden 2017 , Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA
2013
D. Eric Bookhardt, Work by Christopher Deris, Karoline Schleh and Wesley Stokes , Gambit Weekly / Inside Art New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
2010
D. Eric Bookhardt, Schleh & Becker, Gambit Weekly / Inside Art, New Orleans, LA
2009
D. Eric Bookhardt, Hot Up Here at the CAC , Gambit Weekly / Inside Art New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
2008
1 Day of Art New Orleans , (t)here Magazine, New York, NY
2006
Tara McLellan, Karoline Schleh Artist Profile, New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles Magazine, New Orleans, LA
Op-Art ,A Flood of Images, David Roberts, Karoline Schleh, Jacqueline Bishop, Jeff Marshall, Paul Rogers , The New York Times, OP-ED, New York, NY
Laura Berman, Reshaping Artifacts: Seven New Orleans Artists , Review Magazine, Kansas City, MO D. Eric Bookhardt, The Writing on the Wall, Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA
D. Eric Bookhardt, Made in New Orleans: A Survey of Contemporary Art from the Crescent City, Gambit Weekly , New Orleans, LA
2005
Marcia W. Vetrocq, Crescent City Rising , Art in America, New York, NY
Thomas B. Harrison, New Orleans artists get a gig at Space 301 Mobile Register, Mobile, AL
2004
D. Eric Bookhardt, By the Book, Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA
David Rubin, Birdspace , Art Papers, July/August, Atlanta, GA 2003
D. Eric Bookhardt, Glyphs, Grids, & Smoke , Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA
2001
Doug MacCash, Paperweights , The Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA
Audrey Leonard, Three New Anthologies, Small Press Traffic, San Francisco, CA Doug MacCash, Art and Poetry, The Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA
Susan Strachen, The Invisible City , St. Charles Magazine, New Orleans, LA St. Charles Magazine
Donna Freckman, Words Important, Pensacola News Journal, “Weekender” June 28th Issue. Pensacola, FL 2000
Vesta de Yampert, The Studio System, Homes & Lifestyles/ New Orleans Magazine Winter Issue, New Orleans, LA Doug MacCash , Varied Artistic Languages in Print, The Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA
D. Eric Bookhardt, On the Walls: March, Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA
Marian S. McLellan, Paper Works New Orleans, New Orleans Art Review, New Orleans, LA
Collections
Tulane University, Laven-Bernick Center New Orleans, LA Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. New Orleans, LA
New Orleans Museum of Art New Orleans, LA
Percent For Art City of New Orleans New Orleans, LA
The New Orleans Arts Council New Orleans, LA Pensacola Junior College Pensacola, FL
University of Louisiana Print Collection Lafayette, LA The New Orleans Museum of Art New Orleans, LA Lawrence Ferlinghetti San Francisco, CA
Harvey Littleton Studios Spruce Pine, NC
Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop New York, NY Curatis Corporation Malmo, Sweden