Lake Geneva Art Studio grew out of a lifelong love of art, teaching, and helping people feel at home in their creativity.

My Story

Art has been part of my life since I was a little girl. Over the years, creativity became one of the ways I found my way through both joyful seasons and difficult ones. Even when life pulled me toward more practical work, art continued to feel like an important part of who I am.

Entrepreneurship has been another strong thread throughout my life. I have always loved building ideas, creating opportunities, and turning something meaningful into a real experience for other people.

I also spent many years teaching, training, and helping people approach unfamiliar things with confidence. That experience shapes the way I guide workshops today: offering support when it’s helpful while giving people the freedom to work at their own pace and make their artwork their own.

I believe creativity gives us another way to express ourselves. Color, shape, texture, memory, and emotion can communicate things that aren’t always easy to put into words. That’s one of the reasons I truly believe everyone is an artist. You don’t need formal training or special talent. You simply need the freedom to explore, make choices, and see what happens.

Lake Geneva Art Studio brings together my love of art, teaching, and entrepreneurship in a way that feels very natural to me.

A colorful stained glass art piece depicting a school of fish swimming around a coral reef, with green, blue, and orange hues, framed with wood and hanging in front of a window with trees outside.

Why I created this studio

I created Lake Geneva Art Studio because opening a creative space like this had been a dream of mine for many years. I reached a point in my life when I was finally able to bring that dream to life.

I wanted to create a welcoming place where people could slow down, make something with their hands, and enjoy being together in a different way.

What I love most about the studio is what happens around the table. Friends, families, coworkers, couples, and groups come in to create, but the experience becomes about so much more than the project itself. People talk, laugh, share ideas, encourage one another, and help each other along the way. There is something special about sitting together and making something side by side.

Art has always been restorative for me, during difficult times and joyful ones. It has given me another way to express myself, especially when words were not enough. But I have also seen how creating together changes the way people connect. They relax, become playful, try things they might not normally try, and sometimes feel a little like children again.

For years, I shared that experience with friends, family, my children, and their friends. Creating this studio felt like a way to open that experience to more people.

Lake Geneva Art Studio is a place to slow down, create together, connect with the people you came with, meet new people along the way, and leave with something beautiful you made together with a really good memory.

Lake Geneva Art Studio is a warm, encouraging place where people can slow down, create together, connect with one another, and enjoy the simple joy of making something beautiful with their own hands.

Karen Whalen Original Art | Lake Geneva Art Studio | Glass-on-Glass Mosaic using cathedral glass, and set in an antique picture frame - scene of three sailboats on lake geneva while the sun is shining and the plants are happily growing beneath the su
Karen Whalen Original Art | Lake Geneva Art Studio | Stained glass artwork of an angel with outstretched wings, holding the earth, with a red circular halo, surrounded by green foliage.
Karen Whalen Original Art | A colorful illustration of an angel with pink and purple wings, flowing purple hair, and a flowing purple dress, holding the Earth with one hand and a glowing sun in the background, surrounded by radiant lines.
Karen Whalen Original Art | Lake Geneva Art Studio | Colorful stained glass window featuring flowers, leaves, and abstract patterns with gold, green, red, blue, and yellow hues.

“I want people to come in, relax, have fun, try something new, and leave feeling proud of themselves and closer to the people they came with.”

The artwork they take home becomes a little reminder of the time they spent creating together.

Karen Whalen - Founder, Lake Geneva Art Studio