karen Krolak (she/her - pronounced Care - wren Crow- lock) is a free range collaborator who lives with a rare health condition and “distinguished” laugh. Growing up as a middle child roaming the college campuses where her father taught, she relishes exchanging knowledge and connecting people to resources. Her mama used to say that karen was the kind of child who would “talk to stump.” As co-founder of Monkeyhouse, she dreamed of creating a space where choreographers could experiment and thrive. Through Monkeyhouse’s Covid Collaborations, she has mentored over 125 choreographers since 2020. Currently, Monkeyhouse supports these mentoring programs through the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Innovation Fund, the Somerville Arts Council, the Boston Cultural Council, and the Miner Nagy Family Gift Fund.
For a woman in her fifties with an unruly mane of white hair, karen is still extremely flexible but prefers not to fold herself into one artistic box. Her ongoing project, the Dictionary of Negative Space (DoNS) holds space for unnamed ideas related to grief, trauma and repair. DoNS was inspired by her experiences after a car crash killed her mother, father & brother. karen is a co-producer of NACHMO Boston, co-director of aMaSSiT at The Dance Complex, co-curator of the Malden Dance Mile, a Humanities Advisor to The Black Arts Sanctuary, a Board member for the The Flavor Continues, and Boston Dance Alliance, a Sustainability Advisor for Subcircle, Minister of Pom Poms and Big Ideas for the Clary and Cimermanis Little Free Library, director/costume designer for Eric John Meyer’s Assemblages, a dramaturg for Jessica Roseman, simon montalvo, and Kimberleigh Holman, and a freelance audio describer [Pause to catch my breath.]
In 2022, she presented her first solo exhibit at Stove Works in Chattanooga, TN and she received a Live Arts Boston grant, a Collective Futures Fund Sustaining Practice Grant, and a New England Dance Fund grant. Krolak’s quirky knitting pattern/personal essay/instruction based art piece, Slippers to Soothe Your Emergency Room Blues, has been presented in Gimpo, Korea and won the First Annual Feels Blind Literary DIY Prize. Her essay, Unexpected Artist in Residence in a Hospital, and hospital robe pattern were published in Piney Woods Atlas’s Midwest edition. She is honored to have been the first Artist in Residence at the Newton Cemetery and Arboretum, a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, a professional shoe blogger, and a semi-pro haberdasher for several guinea pigs.
For a woman in her fifties with an unruly mane of white hair, karen is still extremely flexible but prefers not to fold herself into one artistic box. Her ongoing project, the Dictionary of Negative Space (DoNS) holds space for unnamed ideas related to grief, trauma and repair. DoNS was inspired by her experiences after a car crash killed her mother, father & brother. karen is a co-producer of NACHMO Boston, co-director of aMaSSiT at The Dance Complex, co-curator of the Malden Dance Mile, a Humanities Advisor to The Black Arts Sanctuary, a Board member for the The Flavor Continues, and Boston Dance Alliance, a Sustainability Advisor for Subcircle, Minister of Pom Poms and Big Ideas for the Clary and Cimermanis Little Free Library, director/costume designer for Eric John Meyer’s Assemblages, a dramaturg for Jessica Roseman, simon montalvo, and Kimberleigh Holman, and a freelance audio describer [Pause to catch my breath.]
In 2022, she presented her first solo exhibit at Stove Works in Chattanooga, TN and she received a Live Arts Boston grant, a Collective Futures Fund Sustaining Practice Grant, and a New England Dance Fund grant. Krolak’s quirky knitting pattern/personal essay/instruction based art piece, Slippers to Soothe Your Emergency Room Blues, has been presented in Gimpo, Korea and won the First Annual Feels Blind Literary DIY Prize. Her essay, Unexpected Artist in Residence in a Hospital, and hospital robe pattern were published in Piney Woods Atlas’s Midwest edition. She is honored to have been the first Artist in Residence at the Newton Cemetery and Arboretum, a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, a professional shoe blogger, and a semi-pro haberdasher for several guinea pigs.
Photo by Stephanie Sune
