Karah Lain received her MFA from Oregon College of Art and Craft, and has shown her collage and painting work throughout the country in such locations as the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago, Illinois, Third Room in Portland, Oregon, and Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. She has also served as an artist in residence at Portland Garment Factory and In Cahoots Residency, and as a University Fellow at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. She is currently Assistant Professor of Visual Art in Painting and Drawing at Point Loma Nazarene University.
Education
- 2017- 2019 Master of Fine Arts in Craft – Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, Oregon
- 2013-2017 Bachelor of Science in Painting, Drawing, and Illustration – Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonnais, Illinois
Courses Taught
Associate Professor of Visual Art, Painting and Drawing - Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California
Courses taught:
- ART1000 — Introduction to Art
- ART 1013 — 2-D Design
- ART1015 — Drawing 1
- ART2006 — Advanced Drawing
- ART2010 — Painting 1
- ART2023 — Printmaking 1
- ART 3010 — Painting 2
- ART 3023 — Printmaking 2
- ART 3045 — Life Drawing
- ART4066 — Senior Exhibition
- ART 4090 — Color Theory
Experience in Field
Select exhibitions:
- Paper Dagger - Group exhibition at Tropical Contemporary in Eugene, Oregon
- C-Note - Group exhibition at the San Diego Art Institute in San Diego, California
- An Inventory of Shimmers - Solo exhibition at Keller Gallery at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California
- Make/Shift – Two-person exhibition at Three Seeds Gallery in Chicago, Illinois
- The Artificial Obvious – Two-person exhibition at Third Room in Portland, Oregon
- Invisiblia: Artists Exploring Invisible Life Forces - Group exhibition at Governors State University Visual Arts Gallery in University Park, Illinois
- National Juried Exhibition - In Conjunction with the Center for Faulkner Studies - Group exhibition at Catapult Gallery at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri
- ANAMNESIS – Group exhibition at the Troy Laundry Building in Portland, Oregon
- National Wet Paint Biennale – Group exhibition at Zhou B Art Center in Chicago, Illinois
Professional and Community Involvement
- President of the Board of Directors — Arts Education Connection San Diego, July 2022 to July 2024
Dissertations, Presentations, and Publications
Select Exhibits and Presentations:
2025
- Remembering Air – Solo exhibition at Keller Gallery, San Diego, California, August 2025
- Between the Trees – Juried group exhibition by Harvest and Gather, San Diego, California, July 2025
- “Eve Sedgwick's Paranoid Reading vs. Reparative Reading in the Pedagogy of the Critique” – Paper presentation at The Arts in Society Conference, May 2025
2024
- Chomaterial – Juried group exhibition at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, November 2024
- Ordinary Devotion – Solo exhibition of paintings at Keller Gallery in San Diego, California, August 2024
- Subtractica – Juried group exhibition at Troppus Projects in Akron, Ohio, April 2023
2023
- Alliance of Oregon College of Art and Craft Alumni Group Exhibition — Juried group exhibition at Oregon Contemporary in Portland, Oregon, November 2023
- The Last Group Show, Group exhibition at Bread and Salt Gallery in San Diego, California, December 2023
2022
- More than One — Juried group exhibition at B Free Studio in La Jolla, California, November, December 2022
- Conglomeration — Juried group exhibition at Governors State University in University Park, Illinois, October-November 2022
- On the Verge of Recognition — Juried group exhibition at Well Well Projects in Portland, Oregon, March 2022
- Influx and Efflux: Writing Up with Walt Whitman by Jane Bennett — Book review published in Religion and the Arts Issue 26, volume 3, summer 2022
2021
- Artist in Residence in Printmaking — In Cahoots Press in Petaluma, California
- Magical Thinking Amidst Our Crisis: A Virtual Reading Room – Discussion coordinator and content creator for a 5-week reading and discussion group, organized by Rainmaker Craft Initiative in Portland, Oregon, November 2021
2020
- Paper Dagger – Juried group exhibition at Tropical Contemporary in Eugene, Oregon, January 2020
- “Spacious Insecurity: Using, Owning, and Wild Materiality” — Article published in You are Here, Volume 1: Labor, June 2020
- Soft Voices – A series of paintings on paper published in the art and literary magazine Grits Quarterly Issue #3: Revival
- Notes on Rehearsal – Self-published artist’s zine including a personal essay and corresponding artwork, in the permanent artist’s zine collection at Oceanside Public Library
- Of Transience – A socially distanced solo exhibition of twenty paintings in twenty homes across the United States, accompanied by an interview in the San Diego Union Tribune, June 2020
- The Zine Show – Group Exhibition at SMUSH Gallery in Jersey City, New Jersey
- Lawn Ornaments in My Backyard – Group exhibition curated by Maiden LA, Monte Vista Projects, and Typical Office for Other Places Art Fair in Los Angeles, California
2019
- An Inventory of Shimmers – Solo exhibition at Keller Gallery at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California
- Presentation of creative work at the COLLAGE:BOOKS symposium — Conference in conjunction with Volume 2, MTL Art Book Fair in Montreal, Canada
- “Art in the Church: to Promote a Tolerance for the Unknown” – Paper presented at Crossing the Lines: Christian Conversations on Difference at Point Loma Nazarene University
Curatorial Projects:
2022
- On Lightness — Group exhibition of cross-disciplinary works addressing the theme of physical and conceptual lightness, exhibited in Keller Gallery at Point Loma Nazarene University, fall 2022
2020
- Connections — Group exhibition and mailed art exchange project between PLNU Art and Design students and faculty, exhibited in Keller Gallery at Point Loma Nazarene University, fall 2020