Spotlight Artist: Karen Clark
Karen Clark is a beachcomber and artist from Santa Barbara, California. She’s been searching for seaside treasure since a very young age, at any and all beaches. Now, she prefers searching on remote beaches in California that are difficult to get to, but she’ll take any time she can get by the coast. “Plug me into the salt air and I’m in my zone.”
Karen collects sea glass, operculums, arrowheads, and most enthusiastically, seaweed. She loves the shapes, colors, and textures of seaweed, scooping up specimens along the tideline and then using it in her art. She says her husband Alan will often accompany her to the beach, but once they reach the sand, “I’m a good mile ahead of him.”
In elementary school, Karen remembers how she couldn’t wait for art class, and her passion led her to pursue art education in college, and then a career in professional photography which she enjoyed for 35 years alongside Alan. After retirement, she and Alan opened a vintage store, Whimsy Antiques, in Carpinteria. She says her store is one big art project.
Karen and Alan have been creating ocean art for a dozen years. If she’s not doing her art, she’s immersing herself in something creative. She says her creative mind is a blessing and a curse. “The ideas don’t stop, ever.”
After spending so much time on the beach, Karen realized that she was actually seeing and appreciating the seaweed more than anything else, so she began collecting specimens to take back to her studio. During the pandemic, Karen started creating beautiful seaweed art, which she now sells at festivals and showcases online. “It’s just another way to express creativity. As long as I’m in a creative space, I’m happy.”
On her process: “When I’m on the beach, I visualize what I will design in my studio. I gather seaweed at the tideline and clean it in freshwater at home. Once I’m ready, I lay my finds out on my light box and I start playing. This can last for several hours, and I truly los
Karen says she sees everything as a photograph, and it’s always how she’s seen her surroundings, a series of shapes and patterns. She photographs her assemblages and prints them on canvas or on fabric for tea towels and t-shirts. She also encases pressed seaweed in pendants and keyrings.
She usually prefers isolation when scouring beaches. Karen says, “Just the sea, shore life, and me. I sing at the top of my lungs when I’m in my zone, and nobody wants to hear that!” She loves to gather her finds on the beach and create environmental art right there on the sand, leaving it there for a lucky someone to stumble across.
Learn more about Karen and Alan’s art on Instagram @whimsea_shop.
All photos courtesy of Karen Clark.
This article appeared in Beachcombing Magazine Volume 46 the January/February 2025 issue.
