KAREN A. RIFAS
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois

EDUCATION: M.F.A. - University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, 1988.
B.Ed. and B.F.A. - University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, 1964 and 1985 respectively.
A.A. - Miami-Dade College, Miami, Florida, 1981.


TEACHING
EXPERIENCE:
Currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Arts, New World School of the Arts and Department of Art and Philosophy, Kendall Campus Miami-Dade College , Miami, Florida.


SELECTED
EXHIBITIONS
COLLECTIONS
2006
Karen Rifas: Geocentric Installations, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.
Palm Beach 3 Contemporary, West Palm Beach, Florida.

2005
Sweet Basil, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.
The Yard at Casa Lin 2005, Miami, Florida.
Visions, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida.
Art Faculty at Kendall Campus, Kendall Campus Art Gallery, Miami, Florida.
New Art South Florida: 2005 Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists, Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Cool Connections, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.
5 Florida Sculptors, New Gallery, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida
2005 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for the Visual and Media Artists.
Locust Projects, Legal Art and Lowe Benefits.

2004
Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami, Florida.
sites-miami, 2004, Lummus Park, Miami, Florida.
Karen Rifas, Mayfaire at the Museum, Emily S. Macey Gallery, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida.*Karen Rifas, Edison College, The Bob Rauchenberg Gallery, Ft. Myers, Florida.
Florida Visual Arts Fellowship, Installation Green Galleries, The Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Florida.
*This Ain’t No Retrospective (I’m too young), Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.
Nepotism: The Art of Friendship (curated by Edouard Duval Carrie), Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Karen Rifas and Marie Mennes, Common Threads, MIA Gallery, Miami, Florida.
It’s For The Birds, Group Invitational Traveling Exhibition, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.
South Florida Fiber Artists and Friends, Futernick Gallery, J.C.C., Miami, Florida.
Florida Visual Arts Fellowship, Installation, Boggy Cove, Okaloosa-Walton College Art Center Galleries, Niceville, Florida.
The Last Show, The House, Miami, Florida.
Locust Projects, Florida International University, Legal Art and Polk Museum Benefits.


2003
Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami, Florida.
Robot (curated by Fred Snitzer), The Arts Center Galleries at Okaloosa-Walton Community College, Niceville, Florida.
Visual Arts Fellowship Show, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida. (also traveling to Okaloosa-Walton and the Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Florida.
Save Your Pennies, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.
Inner City, Exit Art, New York, New York.
Bubble, Bubble, Boil… a Miami Visual Stew, Main Library, Miami, Florida.

2002
Art Basel, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida.
string resonance, Miami-Dade Wolfson Campus, Miami, Florida.
*Karen Rifas, Not a sibling of the solar system but a geometric cousin, Projects Room, Bernice Steinbaum
Gallery, Miami, Florida.
Mirror, Mirror. Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.
A is for art. Main Library, Miami-Dade Cultural Center, Miami, Florida.
Flora: art and ecology in Florida, The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science, Tallahassee, Florida.
Exploratory Paths. faculty exhibition, New World School of the Arts, Miami, Florida.
globe>miami<island, D.C. Museum of Contemporary Art, Washington D.C.
space, structure and vision, (curated by Joie Lassiter), Bank of America Plaza, Charlotte, N.C.
*Karen Rifas, nine/eleven, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.
Art Miami, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida.
No Show and No Home Show for SAVE DADE, Miami, Florida.
Small Packages, Cultural Resource Center, Miami, Florida.
Expanded Paths, faculty exhibition, New World School of the Arts, Miami, Florida.

2001
globe> miami< island, Bass Museum, Miami Beach, Florida.
A Painting for Over the Sofa (that’s not necessarily a painting), Group Invitational Traveling Exhibition, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.
*Karen Rifas, Installation, Cultural Resource Center, Miami, Florida.
The Sears Building, (curated by Robert Chambers), The House, Miami, Florida.
Lifting the Veil: Liberating the Virgin Mary, (curated by Carol Damian, Ph.D.), Miami, Florida.
50th Annual All Florida Invitational, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida.
*Karen Rifas: Recycled, Projects Room, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.
Me, My Friends and I, Miami, Florida.
Paths, 2001, Faculty Exhibition, New World School of the Arts, Miami, Florida.
Freedom Rocks (curated by Fred Snitzer), People for the American Way Foundation, Miami, Florida.

2000
Levity and Gravity (curated by Amy Cappellazzo and Tiffany Huot),, Miami, Florida.
Cultivated Under the Sun, Artworks Selected from the Permanent Collection of the Miami-Dade Public Library System, Main Library, Miami-Dade County Cultural Center, Miami, Florida.
Home Invasion (curated by Eugenia Vargas), Miami, Florida.
Departing Perspectives: Site-Specific Installations by Miami Artists, 1395 Brickell, Miami, Florida.
Paths 2000, Faculty Exhibition, New World School of the Arts, Miami, Florida.
Faculty Exhibition, Kendall Campus Gallery, Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, Florida.
Synecdoche: Multiple Image Artworks (curated by Genevieve Linnehan), Dunedin Fine Arts Center, Dunedin, Florida.
Art Miami, Installation, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida.

1999
The Present Absent: eight artists from Miami, Paco Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Reference, Past History, Mount Dora Art Center, Mount Dora, Florida.
All God’s Children Got Shoes, Main Library, Miami-Dade County Cultural Center, Miami, Florida.
Requiem: Living Artists Eulogize a Dying Century, Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia.
Physical Florida, Mount Dora Center for the Arts, Mount Dora, Florida.
Florida Fellowship Exhibit: University of West Florida, Pensacola; Selby Gallery, Ringling School Art and Design, Sarasota; Museum of Art, Tallahassee and Deland Museum of Art, Deland.
*Karen Rifas, Loose Ends, Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia.
NWSA Faculty Exhibition: Renewed Paths, New World School of the Arts, Miami, Florida.
*Karen Rifas, Stetson University, Duncan Gallery, Deland, Florida.
Present Absent: Eight artists from Miami, Miami Airport, Miami, Florida.

1998
Transposing: An Interactive Installation, Rifas, Andree, Jacquelin, ArtCenter-South Florida, Miami Beach, Florida.
The Artful Book, Main Library, Miami-Dade County Cultural Center, Miami, Florida.
Shaping Space . . . six sculptors draw and paint, Dunedin Fine Art Center, Dunedin, Florida.
Floria Fellowship Exhibition, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida.
Southeastern College Art Conference Juried Exhibition, Ambrosino Gallery, Miami, Florida.
*Karen Rifas, Octagonal Vortex, Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio.
*Karen Rifas, I Want, Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio.
1997
Made in Miami, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, Florida.
Crossings and Departures: Making Art in Miami, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.
Lincoln Road: past, present and future. Art 800, Miami Beach, Florida.
*Karen Rifas, Loose Ends, Ground Level, South Florida Art Center, Miami Beach, Florida.
The Florida Landscape, Arts on Douglas, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
1996
*Karen Rifas, Defining Space, Old Capital Gallery, State Capitol, Tallahassee, Florida.
Quest, New World Gallery, Miami, Florida.
*Karen Rifas, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
*Karen Rifas, Cross References, St. Thomas University Gallery, St. Thomas University, Miami, Florida.

1995
Nature Pro or Con, Barry University, Miami Shores, Florida.
Four Views: Rifas, Brown, Fegerighi, Thomas; Ritter Gallery, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida.
Dealer's Choice from South Florida Galleries, New World Gallery, Miami, Florida.
Becalmed in Miami, Main Library, Metro-Dade Cultural Center, Miami, Florida.
Clean Sweep, Karen Rifas and Gary Moore, Gutierrez Fine Arts, Miami Beach, Florida.
Trees, South Florida Art Center Ground Level, Miami Beach, Florida.
Faculty, '95, The New Gallery, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida.
Natural Histories, Rifas, Nash, Coe, Bell, Dunedin Fine Art Center, Dunedin, Florida.
Sculpture in the Landscape, an exhibition of South Florida Artists in Conjunction with Sofa 1995, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida.
1994
Miami dAda, Bianca Lanza Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida.
Un ? ti ? tled, Rifas, Brown, La Rosa, Thiele, Winters, University Gallery, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Libraries . . . 3x5, South Florida Art Center, Miami Beach, Florida.
H x W x L, The Brevard Art Center and Museum, Melbourne, Florida.
*Karen Rifas, Museo De Arte Contemporaneo, Panama, Republic of Panama.

* One-person exhibition

PUBLIC COMMISIONS & COLLECTIONS

Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Four Seasons Hotel, Miami, Florida.
1428 Brickell, Miami, Florida.
Florida Department of Transportation, Miami Construction Office Lobby, Miami, Florida.
Miami-Dade Art in Public Places Art Bank, Miami, Florida.
Miami-Dade College, Homestead Campus Outdoor Installation, Homestead, Florida.
Miami-Dade Public Library, Main Branch, Miami, Florida.
Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Miami, Florida.
Valencia Community College, Orlando, Florida.
Barry University, Miami, Florida.
St. Thomas University, Miami, Florida.
Okaloosa-Walton College, Niceville, Florida.


AWARDS
2005 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for the Visual and Media Artists. Florida Visual Arts fellowship 2002-03 and 1997-98.
Metropolitan Dade-County Cultural Affairs Council 1996-97, New Forms Miami-International Individual Artist Grant.
Artist Access Grant 1998-99, Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council and Tigertail Productions.
Interdisciplinary Teaching Grant 1999.