Biography

Karin Birch (b. 1960, Point Barrow, Alaska) combines spontaneous, in-the-moment stain painting with slow, meditative hand embroidery and beadwork to create densely detailed abstractions. Utilizing stitching’s mesmerizing ability to mark time, and a focus on color, pattern and texture, she explores psychological landscapes that shape perception and meaning through contemplation. Birch studied at the Corcoran School of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, and attended workshops at Penland School of Craft and at John Campbell Folk School. Birch has participated in group exhibitions at the Museum of Art and Design, the National Gallery of the Craft Council of Ireland, and through the Art in Embassies Program of the U.S. Department of State in: Sierra Leona, Burundi, Sri Lanka, Ghana, and Brunei, as well as multiple Fiber Internationals at Snyderman-Works Gallery. Birch’s work is in the permanent collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Art, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the US Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Her work has been reviewed in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post, The Baltimore City Paper and featured in Home & Design Magazine. She’s had 16 solo shows to date. Recent grants and awards including The James M. Green Fund in 2025, Maryland State Arts Council Creativity Grant in 2022, Frederick Arts Council/NEA C.A.N. Recovery Grant in 2022 and Frederick Arts Council Carl R. Butler Individual Visual Artist Award in 2019. Karin lives and works in Brunswick, MD.

Artist Statement

The act of hand stitching thread and beads is a slow and repetitive process that affords the space for uninterrupted thought. The act of painting is spontaneous, in the moment, physical movement. Combining these two opposite states gives form to endless exploration into the mystery of being. “I work intuitively, mining personal experiences, energy, movement, nature and the occasional external interruptions of politics. I use this medium of minutiae as a practice for connecting with the vastness.”