Anne Marie Karlsen was born in Detroit, Michigan to Norwegian parents. Growing up, she spent many of her summers in northern Norway, specifically in Gryllefjord, Senja and Blokken, Vesteralen. Her work reflects her fascination with viewing the world from multiple, diverse perspectives. She earned her B.F.A. from Michigan State University, and M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin. She first taught art in Southern California at UCLA and is now a Professor of Art at Santa Monica College.
Her studio work has been featured in over 100 exhibitions around the United States and Europe, and can be found in the permanent collection of museums throughout the United States including: the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at the UCLA / Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles California; the Carnegie Institute Museum of Art in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; Massachusetts, the Milwaukee Museum of Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and internationally in the Kulturverwaltung Stadt Salzburg, Austria. Karlsen has received fellowships and done residencies in the United States and Europe. In 2007 she was awarded the Sam Francis / Martin Sosin Chair of Excellence from Santa Monica College, a three year fellowship.
Since 1992, Karlsen has completed twenty-seven public arts commissions in various locations around the United States and beyond, including: the FBI Headquarters and the Kedzie Brown Line Station in Chicago, Illinois; Trailside Elementary School in Anchorage, Alaska; the Nordhoff Orange Line Extension Station in Chatsworth, California; the Casablanca Family Learning Center in Riverside, California; Michigan State’s Case Hall in East Lansing, Michigan; Amgen Corporation in Thousand Oaks, California; the Raymond Renaissance in Pasadena, California; and the Capitol Area East End Complex in Sacramento, California, and Royal Caribbean’s ships Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas. Karlsen works in a wide variety of permanent materials, including glass, ceramic tile, mosaic and metal.
Karlsen’s work has twice been named Best Public Art by Americans for the Arts / Public Arts Network, first in 2009 for her work on the Lawndale Public Library in Lawndale, California, and again in 2011 for her work on the Santa Monica Place Parking Structure. She has also received a Commendation from Second District Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas. Her work on the North Hollywood Red Line Station was included in Art in America’s Best Public Art of 2001 article. As a public art consultant, Karlsen has written two public art redevelopment plans, and was awarded the Westside Prize by the Westside Urban Forum for her work on the Santa Monica Boulevard Master Plan for the City of West Hollywood, California.
The process of developing diverse culturally and visually relevant site-specific public works that both reflect and illuminate the communities they inhabit continues to inspire her. Karlsen is available for municipal, corporate, or private commissions.
