Karen Fike

Sponsor: Duly Health and Care Field

Guitar Location: Joliet Area Historical Museum

Guitar Name: “Rocking Love and Hope in Joliet”

Design Concept: Two ladies dancing on records, holding champagne bottles with bubbles, music notes, and baseballs popping out. The ladies’ dresses reference Joliet Slammer baseball jerseys and colors. We wanted to convey the words “love” and “hope”, which have been worked into the front of the guitar.

Instagram: Karen Fike Art Instagram

Website: Karen Fike Art

Artist Bio: Karen Fike is a visual artist based in Chicago who creates acrylic and mixed media paintings with a focus on figurative abstractions of women. 

She incorporates elements of her background in performance and scenic art and her love of music into her work. 

Karen uses flash glazes and textured mediums to capture the beauty and chaos of women’s lives, creating dynamic paintings that take on a life of their own. 

As the light and angle change, the elements appear, vanish, and reappear. Her paintings also often capture the energy and color of the city, reflecting her love of street art. 

Her work can be found in private and public collections throughout the US and is featured in galleries and museums in the Midwest. She is dedicated to advancing women’s rights and is active in several art organizations in Chicago.