Kara Dunne

Biography

Kara Dunne is a print maker, video and performance artist from Providence, RI, and worked on a new piece while at Surel’s Place called ‘Shopping Cart Shepherds.’ This work is an artist book that  incorporates a variety of traditional printmaking processes and tells the stories of shepherds past and present. A shepherd, by simple definition, is someone that gathers something. Dunne’s book makes connections between the rural and deep rooted traditional version of someone that gathers and takes care of sheep with that of our contemporary, urban equivalent: the shopping cart attendant at the grocery store.

Dunne began her research into the role of the traditional shepherd while in Ireland in 2012, and she was in Boise in August with the sole purpose of continuing this project within the Basque community, including a visit with Henry Etchevvery, a sheepherder in eastern Idaho. In addition, she arrived just in time for this year’s Basque Picnic, which served as a fitting welcome for her time with us. Dunne also led an art talk discussing her artist book during her stay.

With an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Ms. Dunne currently lives and works as an art instructor. Her work has been exhibited extensively, in both solo and juried group exhibitions. She has been an artist in residence in Ireland, Nebraska, Illinois, Vermont, North Carolina and, now, Idaho!