I used to help people figure out what to do with their lives. Then I took my own advice.

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I spent years helping other people figure out what they wanted to do with their lives. I was good at it. I was also, quietly, burning out — increasingly aware that someone else was dictating when, where, and how I worked, and that the life I actually wanted kept getting pushed to some imaginary later date.

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Then I lost my parents. Then my best friend. Then a pandemic happened and I ran out of excuses.

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I'm Kara — artist, surface designer, and a person who takes "life is short" extremely literally. I make bold, colorful, folk-inspired work rooted in the visual traditions of cultures around the world — sacred geometry, ancient pattern, the textures of nature and place. Illustrative, vibrant, and made by someone who is paying attention to the world.

I believe in living unconventionally and creatively — not as an aesthetic, but as a practice. Recently, I spent four months traveling solo through Bali, Thailand, Mexico, Spain, and Portugal — partly as adventure, partly as proof to myself that I could do hard things, take real risks, and figure it out as I went. I came back more certain than ever that autonomy, creativity, and cultural immersion aren't luxuries. They're how I'm built.

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Beyond the studio, I care deeply about the world we're living in — human rights, environmental protection, social justice, the preservation of indigenous art and traditions. Those values live most explicitly in my writing for now, but they're increasingly finding their way into the work itself. That feels like the most honest thing I can tell you about where I'm headed.

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I make art because I always have, even when I wasn't calling it that. It pours out of me — whether I'm designing a pattern, painting a mural, or finding a more creative way to say something true.

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If something here resonates — the work, the story, or just the general vibe of someone living deliberately and on their own terms — I'd love for you to stick around.