Karen E. Tagstrom really dislikes talking about herself.   More specifically, she dislikes discussing her work in a way that takes itself too seriously.   Do not take her wrong, she takes her work seriously...it is a deeply personal matter, the work.   But the work is not its own entity outside of the artist and viewer.   Sure, it exists.   It is an object occupying space, but it is the viewer that carries on its meaningful existence, and that transferred existence could be something that has never been conceived before. Karen is merely the messenger, or the medium if you will, for this particular incarnation and all of its peculiarities.   Karen's work history or heavily condensed personal history in no way increases understanding of each piece and she thinks it might undermine the very essence of the idea of living work.