Karen Ackoff

Biography

Karen Ackoff received her BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art. Afterwards she worked as an illustrator, creating artwork primarily for children’s educational texts. Yearning for a more academic aspect to her work, she studied medical illustration and received her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology. For ten years she has worked as a Scientific Illustrator at the National Museum of Natural History and at Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. She currently teaches at Indiana University South Bend, where she is Professor of Visual Arts and Program Director of Graphic Design.

Ms. Ackoff has extensive teaching and exhibiting experience, including working at: the Maryland Institute College of Art, University of the Arts, Delaware Art Museum, and the Morton Arboretum Botanical Certificate Program.

Her works were exhibited both in the United States and abroad, including: Switzerland, Portugal, and Bulgaria. Ms. Ackoff has written a number of articles on artistic technique for the Journal of Scientific Illustration and Letter Arts Review.

Ms. Ackoff conducts lectures and workshops for programs and conferences that includes: education, scientific, medical illustration, calligraphy, and murals.

Though fluent in digital technology, her passion lies with the Renaissance techniques of metal engravings and tempera painting.