Karen Horne is thrilled to have reached a significant milestone with her pastel artwork. She has fortunately earned MASTER CIRCLE status in IAPS, the International Association of Pastel Societies, a coveted designation for worldwide pastel artists. By accumulating points over time from having her work juried into a number of highly competitive international shows, she qualified for this status in 2024. She was officially presented with the beautiful MASTER CIRCLE medallion in the awards banquet of the biannual IAPS convention in Albuquerque in June of 2026. President Richard McKinley and Vice-President Shirley Anderson presented her with the official certificate on stage. Karen was so excited she did a little dance coming up to the podium.
This award reflects the sustained quality of Karen Horne’s artworks in this medium. She first experimented with pastel in life drawing sessions, and has gone on to explore its wonderful improvisational and coloristic possibilities in many compositions. It is a great complement to her artwork in oil, and she finds the mediums help to inform each other.
