Kara’s Greek-Italian family is filled with professional and novice artists, creators, and inventors, dating back to her great-great Italian grandfather Harry D. Donato who sculpted carvings on buildings across the U.S., including the relief statues on the outside of the Los Angeles Times Building in downtown L.A in 1948.

Kara’s fascination with Pablo Picasso and abstract expressionism began at the early age of five. Creativity was encouraged and she always had art books, brushes, and a rainbow of media within reach, often painting uninhibitedly on large canvases three-times her size.

From that point forward, she found comfort in the creative arts and was immersed in a colorful world of art, dance, and theatre, where she won first place in many art shows and regional dance competitions.

While in high school, Kara was training and competing in dance (ballet, jazz, modern, tap, and more) nearly 40 hours per week. Unfortunately, her professional pursuits came to a halt after a foot surgery at 18 years of age left her with limited toe mobility. Her craving for adventure began and she learned to fly a plane, obtained her motorcycle license, and cultivated an interest in diverse cultures, traveling to over 20 countries.

Throughout adulthood, Kara has continued to take art and dance classes at local art centers and nearby colleges. She lived in Chicago, IL for 10 years, finding regular solace among great artists featured in the Art Institute of Chicago and painting therapeutically in her home. Since 2021, Kara has been painting at the Berkshire Art Center's Annex Studio in Citizens' Hall, Stockbridge, MA. She also extends her passion by facilitating after-school art programs, working primarily with elementary youth for the past 5+ years. She has taught through Berkshire Art Center and continues to provide art programming to underserved youth through the non-profit organization, Give Kids Art. In her role, she empowers children’s social-emotional growth and emphasizes the power of art as a medium for expressing emotions that might elude words or remain unspoken. Kara is a summa cum laude graduate from DePaul University in Chicago, IL, and holds a B.S. in Marketing with a minor in Anthropology. She credits her elective art history courses to one of her favorite aha moments – discovering an upside-down Rothko hanging in the MOCA!

Today, you will find Kara painting at her studio in Stockbridge, MA. Drawing inspiration from abstract expressionists, she channels the fervor of action painting, celebrates the beauty in imperfection (wabi-sabi), and embraces the boundless creativity of childhood. Her work, a symphony of mediums, themes, and techniques involving mind, music, and movement, is a visual memoir — a series of frozen frames capturing memories of emotions and moments of pure, unfiltered creation.

Recent Installations:

• 2024 February, Clock Tower Business Studios in Pittsfield, MA - 10x10 Real Art Party - Two Works Displayed

• 2024 February, Clock Tower Business Studios in Pittsfield, MA - Art In the Berkshires Pop-Up Art Show - Eight Works Displayed

• 2023 December - 2024 January, Hotel On North in Pittsfield, MA -  "Go Big Where Expanding” Art Show

• 2023 October - December, Stockbridge Coffee & Tea in Stockbridge, MA - Select Works Displayed

• 2022 July - September, Dottie’s Coffee Lounge in Pittsfield, MA  - "Go Big” Series Showcase

• 2022 March - May, The Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield, MA -  "Go Big Where” Art Show

• 2022 February, Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA - 10x10 Real Art Party - Two Works Displayed

• 2022 January - February, Brothership Window in Pittsfield, MA - “Keep Going, Keep Growing” Show

• 2021 - Present, Berkshire Art Center, Stockbridge & Pittsfield MA Locations - Select Works Displayed

Through her art, she aspires to share this joy (Χαρά in Greek) by infusing her work with vibrant, hopeful energy and a depth of colors.

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