Karen Wicks

Karen Wicks’ practice draws deeply from the quiet, compelling presence of Derbyshire’s abandoned functional buildings- those half-forgotten structures that sit between utility and poetry.

She treats them as emotional landmarks, tracing how they settle into the landscape and become vessels for memory, resilience, and overlooked stories.

Their weathered surfaces and improvised architecture feed her printmaking, sketching, and socially engaged work.

At this year’s Belper Arts Trail, she will invite visitors into that world through a simple, hands-on Tetrapak printmaking activity, demonstrating how humble, everyday materials can be transformed into evocative images that echo the textures and atmospheres of these sites.