Karen Bernard

Karen Bernard creates nuanced, movement-based work that explores divergent themes surrounding the female body—from motherhood to sex goddess to murder victim.

In 1966, Bernard received a three-year scholarship to attend The Boston Museum of Fine Art, but after one year, diverted to join the pilot program of The London School of Contemporary Dance.

Her husband, the painter Scott Wixon, began to renovate a loft in Tribeca to include painting and dance studios, an office, in their living space, where they raised three children.

During this time, she began to steadily integrate projection, popular music, photographs, and found objects as performance elements, juxtaposing these with her unique movement quality.

The early years saw the premieres of Blue, Star, Dying for Lace, Vinyl (1999) at Danspace at St. Mark's Church, Removed Exposure (2004) at Dixon Place, and Surfing The Shadow(2007) at Joyce SoHo (originally, Dia Center for the Arts), among other works.