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Karen Tharp graduated with an MFA in Studio Art from Ohio State University.

Her sculptural work explores themes of duality, contamination, purity, displacement, and eutectics through mixing dirt and metal with her material anchor, porcelain.

 

Born into a robustly creative family, Tharp spent her first thirty years learning to think through her fingertips on the humid peninsula of Florida. She received a BFA in Studio Art from The Florida State University and a Post Baccalaureate in Ceramics from the University of Florida. After moving to Ohio to attend graduate school, Tharp began researching all the limbs of her family tree. This research, and the subsequent dirt she dug up, continues to drive her sculptural practice. She splits her time between amassing large scale installations and wheel-throwing porcelain tableware.

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Karen Tharp lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her dog, Juniper. She teaches ceramics at Ohio State University