Hoover painter makes big splash with tiny art

Art has been a part of Karen Libecap’s life from the beginning — in big and small ways.

Now it’s starting to pay off in a big way for the resident of Hoover’s Green Valley community, who won best of show at a prestigious art show in Fort Worth in April.

Libecap’s mother was an oil painter and sculptor and encouraged her to pursue her passion for art.

Her dad worked in a print shop, and when he was finished with manual typesetting, her job was to put the tiny pieces of type away, and when she wasn’t doing that, she would collect leftover scraps of paper, write stories and draw pictures on them and file them away in a little shoebox.

She loved her little collection of art, and when she went to college, she initially wanted to go into illustration, she said. However, she was told she wasn’t good enough for that and went into graphic design instead.

After graduating from Kent State University with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, she worked for advertising companies in Ohio, doing graphic design and photography. She then did freelance work in Chicago, Cincinnati and Charlotte.

But along the way, she got married, had three children and divorced, and let her painting fall to the side. Then in 2009, she reconnected with her high school sweetheart, Jeff Huemmer, who encouraged and inspired her to begin painting again.

At first, she began with “normal”-sized paintings but would get bored halfway through and not finish them, she said. So in 2014, she decided to return to her affinity for small things and began making tiny paintings 1.25 inches square.

She focuses on everyday images that resonate with her and fits as much detail as she can within the tiny space.

“I did a couple of them, and it just kind of took off,” she said. “It just kind of snowballed from there … Apparently, not very many people can paint in miniature.”

People loved her work and began asking her to paint specific items for them, she said.

Several years back, she expanded to some 3-inch square paintings but people didn’t seem as interested in those, so she quit doing them regularly around 2018, she said.

“There’s something special about the inch-and-a-quarter size that people gravitate toward,” she said. “I don’t know what it is.”

Libecap frames the tiny art in 5-inch square frames. Some people put the art on shelves, while others put it on their walls or put several of her tiny paintings together in a group, either with a theme or illustrating a variety of their interests, she said.

Libecap travels around the country, doing about 10 art shows a year in places such as Texas, South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky.

She had never won an art show but in April was named best of show at the Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival, which recently was rated as the third best juried art show in the nation by a national arts publication and has been named a Top 10 Arts Festival by USA Today.

Libecap was chosen best of show from 213 artists, who were selected for the show from among more than 1,300 applicants. Their mediums ranged from ceramics to jewelry, printmaking, painting, digital, fiber, leather, sculpture, drawing, glass, metalwork, photography, wood and mixed media.

This particular show typically has about $4 million worth of sales, and Libecap said she by far had her best sales ever.

People were lined up, waiting to get into her booth, throughout the four-day show, she said. She suspects that was because she won best of show, but other artists had good sales, too, she said. “It was amazing.”

Her win came with a $5,000 prize.

Libecap said so many people thank her for having art that is affordable. Her originals are priced around $300, but she also makes 20 prints of each that she sells for $35 apiece.

At the Fort Worth show, some of the artwork was priced at $5,000 and $10,000, but “a lot of people that go to shows can’t afford that,” she said. She likes to make her art accessible to the average person, she said. She also does commission work.

To learn more about Libecap and see samples of her work, go to karenlibecap.com.