About Kathleen

In my early twenties, I fell in love with the West on a cross-country trip through the nation’s national parks. After completing my bachelor's degree in studio art in 1987 at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, I moved to Montana, worked for a decade running a large commercial kitchen for a non-profit organization, and eventually earned a master's degree in humanities (art, music and philosophy) through a distance program with California State University. The focus of my master's thesis was the psychological and emotional impact of the arts, especially the connections between sound and color. I also studied extensively about the healing power of art and the symbolic meaning inherent in visual images.

For the last fourteen years, I have been working in the fields of education, media production and the creative arts. I manage a multimedia business, Living Arts Media, together with my husband Andrew, a videographer and editor with experience in documentary production, instructional design and website development. I also co-teach art at a local Montessori elementary school one afternoon a week. I am a professional artist with ongoing local exhibits and a portfolio website at Kathleen Karlsen Art. I have recently published my first book, Flower Symbols: The Language of Love, available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Andrew and I have five children ranging in age from six to eighteen: Christopher, Michael, Joseph, Rosemarie and Benjamin. We spend our spare time hiking, gardening, cooking and reading. I have lifelong interests in metaphysics, psychology, and alternative healing and a more recent fascination with the power and possibilities of technology for advancing our approach to education, communication, business and creativity.