Karen McGuire - Lee Puffer

Karen McGuire: Curator of Exhibitions, City of Carlsbad's William D. Cannon Art Gallery

Karen McGuire holds a Bachelor's degree in Art History and a Master's degree in Museum Studies and Exhibition Design from California State University at Fullerton. She served as Gallery Director at Saddleback College for five years and as professor of Art History and Appreciation at Saddleback and Fullerton Colleges prior to joining the Carlsbad Cultural Arts Office staff in autumn 1999. She has curated or organized more than seventy exhibitions, including "Jean Lowe: Library," "Tom Wudl: You've Got to Be Kidding!," "Beasts and Bones: The Cartonería of the Linares Family," "Kenneth Capps: Metered," and "Natural Connections: Joanne Hayakawa and Gail Roberts."

What is your vision of the future of the Visual arts for San Diego?

"While the closing of some San Diego galleries in the past few years has been disappointing and disheartening, the arrival of some new, adventurous galleries, and the ground being held by San Diego’s tried and true galleries, testifies to an acceleration of the arts in the County. So, although artists have been known to flee to other urban centers like Los Angeles and New York, I find it encouraging that many homegrown artists are looking to build their careers here. A greater cadre of faithful collectors is critical, of course, but I also hope that more people will find creative ways to collect as well. And finally, I would also love to see ways to fund artist residencies and live-work spaces for many of the talented and untested artists that are always looking for exhibition spaces and work studios."