A Rockland County resident for 48 years, Peri Karkheck earned a B.S. in Art Education from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, and an M.A. in Creative Art from Lehman College, with a concentration in printmaking (etching). She has studied watercolor with a variety of well known watercolor artists. She retired from teaching art in the Clarkstown Central School District in Rockland County after 34 years. She has had many solo shows, as well as having participated in numerous group shows. She has won several prizes, and her works are in many private collections.

A native of Long Island, she spent many years boating on the beautiful waters of the East End. She developed a love of light reflecting on the water and land.  This has been translated into watercolor through the use of intense color, clean surfaces, and stark shapes.

“Although one would say that I am a realist painter, I don’t think of myself that way. Painting, for me, has been not so much about real objects. Rather, it’s about the interplay of the shapes of the objects I see and, most importantly, how I can play with color, creating something that, to my eye, is more abstract. I simplify the shapes (not always), and use color in a bold, exaggerated, manner. I like dramatic shifts in value - extreme darks next to the lightest lights, creating a luminous quality. I love the light that shines through the paper.”

perikarkheck@gmail.com