Artist Profile

Karen Lynn Ingalls grew up just over the hill from Calistoga, and drew constantly and precociously, from the time she could first clutch a crayon. Originally a figure drawer and painter, she began painting landscapes out of concern for Elkhorn Slough, a sensitive wetland in the Monterey Bay Area threatened by development, where she painted with the Endangered Landscape painters. She fell in love with landscape painting, and continues painting scenes of rural California.

Ingalls's work has been exhibited on both west and east coasts, in places ranging from the Monterey Conference Center in Monterey, California, to New York City's Lincoln Center, in the Cork Gallery. Articles about her artwork have appeared in the Weekly Calistogan, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the Salinas Californian, the Monterey Herald, and the Monterey County Coast Weekly, among others, and she has been interviewed about her artwork on public radio station KAZU in Pacific Grove, California.

Ingalls's paintings have also been exhibited recently in the Sacramento office of State Senator Pat Wiggins, and Senator Wiggins chose one of her paintings as the image for her 2008 holiday card. Ingalls also created five life-sized painted statues of Peanuts comic strip characters in "Peanuts on Parade," a three-year public art show in Santa Rosa, California, sponsored by the city of Santa Rosa and the Charles M. Schulz Museum. Her artwork can be seen at Graeser Winery, where she is artist in residence; the Silver Grape in Calistoga; the Napa Valley Open Studios Preview Show at Mumm Napa Valley; at Graeser Winery during Open Studios, and at Arrowood Winery in Glen Ellen, California, from November 2009 to January 2010. She also teaches art through Napa Valley College, at the Calistoga Art Center.