Title: Owner and Art Director
Company: Katydid Productions
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
Karen Ann Hargreaves-Fitzsimmons, Owner and Art Director at Katydid Productions, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Artists for dedication, achievements, and leadership in painting and illustration.
Interested in art from a formative age, Ms. Hargreaves-Fitzsimmons first delved into the art world when she was four years old. Her mother, noticing her daughter’s talent, subsequently purchased an easel and chalkboard in order to encourage her artistic abilities. Realizing her own potential, Ms. Hargreaves-Fitzsimmons continued enrolling in art courses throughout college but overall focused her efforts on sociology and anthropology. Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Oakland University in 1967, she went on to serve as a counselor for the Michigan State Employment Commission in Detroit from 1969 to 1973. During this tenure, she also received a Master of Arts from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1971.
While pursuing her studies, Ms. Hargreaves-Fitzsimmons became acquainted with her future husband, and to support his teaching career, the couple moved to Japan. It was in Japan that Ms. Hargreaves-Fitzsimmons found her true passion for painting, and while there, learned about Japanese styles of painting, which she proudly adopted as her own. She has since leveraged these talents to create her own pieces in ink, in which she paints landscapes, animals, and inspirational individuals she has met in her life journey. Since 1973, she has been the owner and art director of her own studio, Katydid Productions, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In her pursuit of artistic recognition, Ms. Hargreaves-Fitzsimmons has also lent her expertise to several academic institutions, such as Oakland University, Corpus Christi College, the University of Oxford in England, and the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit. Likewise, her artwork has been featured in several one-woman and two-women shows throughout Tokyo, Santa Fe, and the state of Michigan, including in group exhibitions at the Ann Arbor Art Association Show, the Detroit Institute of Arts Rental Gallery, and the Hand Artes Gallery in New Mexico.
Demonstrating versatility in her profession, Ms. Hargreaves-Fitzsimmons has also authored or co-authored numerous books throughout her career, including “Water Ground Stone” in 1993, a compilation of stories, poetry, essays, and ink-brush paintings she created while residing in Japan. The co-author of “In the Cemetery There” with her husband, she has also illustrated other books he has written and was the designer and illustrator for 40 other books on American, European, Japanese, and Bengali prose and poetry. Although her career has been filled with highlights, she is especially proud of traveling across the world, meeting other artists, and relating to others’ life experiences.
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