Karen L Moran

Karen L. Moran, Ph.D

Artist/Writer/Archivist

Karen’s art is deeply influenced by her early childhood environment in Topanga Canyon, California, where she was born into an artist family in the late 1940s. Under the mentorship of her parents, Cy and Vera Wood, she studied drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking while working in the family jewelry business. In her works you will find archetypal themes and imagery as she seeks to capture the essence of life’s moments with evocative and metaphoric expression.

Karen holds a BA in Anthropology from UCLA, an MA in Community Psychology from Pepperdine University, and a Doctorate in Archetypal Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She studied art at Pierce College and California Art Institute, and printmaking with Master Print Makers, Cy Wood and Nancy Snooks.

Karen served in Community Mental Health and Private Practice for more than twenty-five years, using “arts forms” whenever possible as adjunct treatment modalities. Since retiring from the mental health profession in 2008, she has devoted her time to the creative arts and archiving her family’s art history. Over the last decade, Karen has produced several videos on the “Life Works” of the Wood family and presented exhibitions for the Topanga Historical Society, Abuelitas Restaurant, the Topanga Festival of Arts, the Canyon Gallery Studio Tour, Mirrors of the Mind, Topanga Art Imaginarium, the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Sherman Oaks and Hillcrest Center for the Arts in Thousand Oaks, California. In addition, she has served as a board member for Topanga Christian Fellowship, the Topanga Historical Society, and the Arts Council of Topanga (ACT).