About Karen Adler

Like Enid Collins, I am a bit of a hybrid: part artist, part entrepreneur. As Enid Collins might put it, “I’m a mixed bag.” I completed doctoral study in cultural anthropology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, hold an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Northern Illinois University and a B.S. in Journalism and Spanish from Southern Illinois University. Prior to launching Finding Enid with LOVE, I worked as a painter, photographer and gallery owner while raising two children on a ranch in the Rocky Mountain foothills. I also served 20 years as a flight attendant with United Airlines.

I am inspired by exploring unknowns and discovery, especially when encountering “ordinary” or overlooked art, and connecting with the people and stories that emerge from their design, fabrication and everyday use. I founded Finding Enid with LOVE in 2012 after discovering a vintage 1968 Enid Collins LOVE box purse in a Chicago thrift store. I featured it and additional Collins works in a “Tramped” show at my Niwot, Colo., manifest ART gallery and began studying Enid in earnest. Today, I am earning a Professional Certificate in Museology at CU Boulder. My vision for Finding Enid with LOVE is to assemble a comprehensive collection of original artworks that I may preserve and share in its own permanent home someday.

• American Alliance of Museums

• Association of Academic Museums and Galleries

• Catalogue Raisonne Scholars Association

• College Art Association