"There is little in our aesthetic vocabulary that prepares us for the initial encounter with Karina's art... Although we may sense, as in dream, evocations of Gothic architecture, of sea anemones and shells, of desquamate frescoes and glimmers of Rococo gilt amid granite rocks... these impressions are evanescent and elude our grasp." — Ronald Kuchta, Director, Everson Museum of Art. 1979
September 2, 1931 - September 13, 2010
Born Helen Koulaeff to Russian parents in Tienstin, China, raised in Los Angeles, acclaimed ceramic artist, Elena Karina Canavier, attended the Jepson Art Institute, USC (BA, Architecture), and CSU Long Beach (MA). In 1953 Elena married local sculptor & art educator John Canavier. She exhibited work and wrote for various publications, among them, Art Week and Art News. Elena moved to Washington, DC in 1974 where she held the positions of Craft Coordinator (1974-78) at the National Endowment for The Arts, and Special Assistant for the Arts to The Office of The Vice President, The White House (1978-80). As Director of the Public Art Trust, Elena organized public art exhibits in DC. Elena continued showing her own sea-inspired ceramic works, most recently at the Davis & Cline Gallery, Ashland Oregon in 2008. Her work is represented in private and public collections throughout the US, including The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Oakland Museum, and the permanent collection of the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
obituary excerpt published in the Los Angeles Times on Sept. 19, 2010.