KAREN LYNCH

Welcome to Leaf and Petal Design, featuring the collage art of Karen Lynch.

Karen creates both digital and hand-cut paper collages, made from vintage magazines, books and catalogues found at thrift shops, second-hand bookstores, markets and garage sales, spliced together with modern photography.

Central to Karen’s art is the idea of resuscitating and transforming long forgotten pieces of the past into colourful, surreal, retro-futuristic photomontages.

As well as having her own art practice, Karen works as a freelance artist designing album cover art, book covers, magazine illustrations, and content for advertising campaigns. Karen completed a double album project for Australian musician Bernard Fanning which included two album covers and a limited edition poster. and was nominated for an ARIA award for Best Cover Art for Bernard Fanning’s album “Civil Dusk”.  She also provided visual content for Bernard's Splendour in the Grass 2017 music festival set.

She has also completed album art projects for Sony Music Australia, Universal Music, and various independent record labels, artists and DJs worldwide including Ferris & Sylvester, Jason Van Wyk, Turkuaz Band, Matt Simons, Felix Jaehn, Mares, Sammy Boller, Boombox Cartel, LIOHN, Side Effects band, the Electric Company, and Tim Wheatley.

Her artwork has been used for promotion in international music and arts events including La Villette Arts Festival in Paris for the 2017 – 2018, 2018 - 2019 and 2021- 2022 seasons.

Karen has also contributed visual content for advertising and media campaigns. Past clients include South Australian Tourism Commission, Coors Light, Shutterstock, Coach New York, La Prairie, SK Group Korea, and Mercedes Benz Australia.

Her designs can also be found on Burton Snowboards, Kateboard Skateboards and decorative beer cans from Aether Brewery.

Scientific American called Karen’s work “a fun jaunt into that otherworldly world” when they featured her work in their on-line blog about artwork inspired by the Great American Eclipse of 2017.

She designed the cover of New York Times best selling author Sarah Wilson’s latest book“This One Wild and Precious Life” and the french version of Mia Kankimäki’s book “The Women I Think About At Night”. Her work has also been published in various international publications including Playboy magazine, GQ China, NYLON, Deco Journal, Musee, NR magazine, Cincinnati Magazine and Southwest Review.

Karen has exhibited her work in the USA, France, Italy, Norway, Canada and Australia. She has collaborated on collage projects with international artists such as Jesse Treece, Sarah Eisenlohr, Mr Babies, Andrew McGranahan and Adelaide collage artist Kate Cuthbert.

Karen lives by the beach in Adelaide, South Australia.

To find out more about Karen, watch a video here and see features, media and publication links here.

Say hello to her on Instagram @leafandpetaldesign