KAREN OCKER is an award-winning New Orleans artist, published illustrator and accomplished graphic designer. She has exhibited her paintings in New York, Chicago and New Orleans, published two books of illustrated political satire and spent more than two decades working as a freelance commercial artist for national corporations, publishers and non-profits. Her work has been published on book covers and in book interiors. Her work has appeared in Day for Night, the 2006 Whitney Museum Biennial catalog and in Print Magazine’s Regional Design Annual, a comprehensive survey of design showcasing design in the southern region. Her books, The George W. Bush Coloring Book (2004 Garrett County Press), and the critically acclaimed Ray Nagin Coloring Book (2009 New Basin Press) garnered national headlines, selling out the first print run within just three weeks of release. In 2011, Karen was awarded Best of Show at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival’s Louisiana Marketplace. While earning her BFA in Graphic Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Karen took just a single painting class and largely attributes her painting ability to early childhood lessons from her grandmother. Both her mother and grandmother are artists. After Hurricane Katrina the focus of Karen’s work shifted toward painting the vibrant culture of her city. She began incorporating discarded architectural remnants she had collected from debris piles into her work using the tools and skills she acquired while fixing her flooded home. Her most recent work is a celebration of the people who keep New Orleans unique culture alive. Karen currently lives & works as a full-time artist in New Orleans. 

AWARDED BEST OF SHOW

2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage

Festival’s Louisiana Marketplace

(Silk painting by artist  Kathy Schorr)

PRESS: CNN International's "Ray Nagin Revealed", Print Magazine Regional Design Review, Day for Night 2006 Whitney Museum Biennial Catalog, Associated Press, CNN Headline News, CBS News, Forbes, MSNBC, FOX News, The New York Times, Air America, Village Voice Bush Beat, Good Morning New Orleans, WGNO News, NBC 6 WDSU News, WWL Radio, Fox 8 Live, WWLTV.com, SF Gate, The Nation, the Insider, The Times-Picayune, The Gambit, Offbeat Magazine, The Advocate, Salon.com, Huffington Post, Clamor Magazine, Hip Mama, National Coalition of Women Artists Newsletter, Mark Vallen's Art for Change & more. . .

COMMERCIAL CLIENTS HAVE INCLUDED: 1199 SEIU, Aeropostale, Associated Press, Banania Cafe, Bantam Doubleday Dell, Brightsky Press, Bread & Roses, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Calliope Puppets, Calvin Klein, Carrol & Graf Publishing, Disney Direct, Family Service of Greater New Orleans, French Quarter Quartet Hotels, Garrett County Press, John Wiley & Sons Publishing, Macy’s - Federated Department Stores, Menasha Ridge Press, New Orleans Hate Crimes Project, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival-Kids Cultural Village, Ocker & Trapp Library Bindery, Outside the Box Interactive, Pearson Publishing, Penguin Putnam Publishing, Polo-Ralph Lauren, Random House, Ruby Slipper Cafe, Standard Bank New York, State Library of Louisiana, Tarcher Publishing, Weir Design . . .