Karen Stokke

Hope’s Nest

rattan, metal, plastic found objects on book pages with glue, wire, string

13.5″ x 8″ x 7.5″

2024

This piece takes inspiration from the poem by Emily Dickinson where “hope” is likened to a bird unruffled by even the stormiest of seas. In mounting a rattan nest at an angle atop book pages from the writings of Herman Melville, I reference this steadfastness in the face of nature’s adversity.

Karen Stokke

Why Cinderella Really Fled the Ball

Inspired by: Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce

epinephrine injection trainer, edible dried flowers, foam pumpkin decoupaged with paper napkin and acrylic, found materials, wooden drawer

3.75″ x 7″ x 5.5″

2024

For people with severe food allergies, every dietary choice must be made with an awareness of one’s own mortality, mirroring the juxtaposition of allure and decay in Todd’s “Strawberries.” Walker’s visual of thighs and heels evoked an image of epinephrine being injected into a person’s thigh during an allergic reaction, with urgency for medical attention before the epinephrine wears off not unlike Cinderella’s race against the clock. Lastly, just as Walker’s piece conveys taste as “in the mind,” people with food allergies have social and psychological considerations, such as wanting to escape a situation where they feel unsafe.