Owen Kareken was born in South Korea in September, 2002. Mary Ahmann and Michael Kareken adopted Owen when he was 5 ½ months old. He attends kindergarten at Whittier School in Minneapolis. Owen is interested in drawing and painting, building with Legos, playing chess, Star Wars, playing the guitar, and learning about dinosaurs. Owen Kareken has a sister, Lili (5) who was also born in Korea.

Michael Kareken
www.michaelkareken.com

Michael Kareken was born in Washington DC in 1961. He moved to Tacoma, Washington when he was 6 years old. Michael received a BA from Bowdoin College and an MFA in painting from Brooklyn College, CUNY. He also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and the Yale Summer School of Music & Art.

He moved to Minneapolis in 1993 from New York City, and since 1996 has taught drawing, painting and printmaking at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. Kareken has received grants from The Bush Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Arts Midwest, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Vogelstein Foundation, as well as a residency fellowship from the Millay Colony for the Arts.

In 1997 he was the recipient of The Louise Nevelson Award for Art from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. His work is in the collections of The Walker Art Center, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Minnesota Museum of American Art, among others. He is represented by Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis. Michael is married to film maker Mary Ahmann and has two children, Owen (6) and Lili (5).