Karen Millard

“The question of where art and craft meet is perhaps answered as well as it might be with the work of Karen Millard, a Highly Commended Newcomer at the BCTF this year. Her artistic and creative talents are expressed through a wide and varied range of greetings cards, each one truly unique, having been individually hand drawn by Karen. Her hand drawn images in stylish, flowing lines on rich, contrasting backgrounds are like no other.” Craftsman Magazine Nov 2003

Karen Millard was born in Falkirk in 1961, daughter to Joann and Gordon Stevens, both artists. Gordon, her father, was a renowned, Scottish designer/silversmith until his death in 2002. His name is carved behind the large stone 'G' of the National Gallery in Edinburgh.

Karen has always lived around design and creativity. In 1984, she married Robin, an architect, who has given her support in everything she wanted to achieve.

She has had experience in Photography, Graphics, Illustration, Stage Set Design and Exhibition Design. She was part of a team who designed the site at Glasgow Garden Festival for Falkirk.

Her children were the reason she went into business for herself as it gave her the flexibility to work the hours she wanted. Her business grew as they grew. Karen has also worked within Primary Schools, doing 'Business Initiative' schemes and in 2003, won an award from Careers Scotland for the work she had done with the children of her local Primary School. She was also involved in World of Work Days in Primary schools, bringing the work of artists and designers to life in the careers market.

Karen's work (cards and paintings) are now all over Britain, from Orkney and the Hebridean Islands to London and beyond and in 2003, she sold her work to Harvey Nichols, London and Leeds.

It is only in the past few years that Karen has started painting. She prefers to paint on a large scale – totally different from her card work – in a fairly graphic way. She loves water and reflections and had her first exhibition on that theme in Hanover Fine Arts in Edinburgh. Since then, she had a few pieces in other exhibitions and galleries. Although her paintings have had a lot of success, she finds it difficult to find the time to paint and to do the volume she would like. However, she will always paint and is continually coming up with new ideas which will eventually go onto canvas!

At her very first Trade Show, Karen met Beverley Gallagher, owner of Celtic Glass Designs, a creative and motivated business woman who gave her lots of advice and inspiration. Beverley has always shown confidence in Karen's work and now has a range of handmade cards specially commissioned to reflect the work of Celtic Glass Designs.

A new addition to Karen's range of greeting cards is the Two Hearts design which is a perfect choice for engagements, weddings and St. Valentine's Day.

This year, Karen has decided to do a Postgraduate course at Strathclyde University to enable her to work in the classroom and bring her passion for art and design to the children she will teach.

To purchase greetings cards by Karen visit our greetings card page. If you wish to contact Karen for commissions or purchases of her work not featured here please contact beverley@celticglassdesigns.co.uk