
This series began as a happy accident. On an art day with my longtime friend Lynette, we set out to make photo transfers — but the materials had other plans, and our “failures” turned out beautiful: gold that transferred when the image wouldn’t, smears and bleeds we never could have designed. So we followed the gold where it wanted to go and spent the afternoon making collage papers instead. These small works are built from that day — a reminder that in art, so much of the beauty lives in the part you can’t control.

Karen Leland
Mixed media, monoprint, photo transfer, collage, paint & hand-sewn beads, 2026

Karen Leland
Mixed media, monoprint, photo transfer, collage, paint & hand-sewn beads, 2026

Karen Leland
Mixed media, monoprint, photo transfer, collage, paint & hand-sewn beads, 2026