Karen Rifas

Karen Rifas (b. 1942, Chicago) has exhibited nationally and internationally since the 1980s. She is the second recipient of the prestigious Michael Richards Award, presented by Oolite Arts. Her 2018 solo exhibition at The Bass Museum of Art was widely celebrated, and in 2020, The Bass commissioned her to create a series of banners for its Art Outside initiative.

Rifas’s work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, The Bass Museum of Art, Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Oolite Arts, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Miami-Dade Art in Public Places Trust, and the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).

Throughout her career, Rifas has had significant solo exhibitions at institutions such as The Bass Museum of Art (2018), Emerson Dorsch (2017, 2020, 2022, 2025), MDC Museum of Art + Design (2015), De La Cruz Collection (2010), Pinnacle Gallery at Savannah College of Art and Design (2007), Polk Museum of Art (2004), Art Center South Florida (now Oolite Arts) (1997), and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Panama City (1993).

Her work has also been featured in notable group exhibitions and projects, including In the Company of Women: At Large, curated by Dainy Tapia at LnS Gallery (2023); At the Edge, curated by Dennis Scholl and Amanda Bradley at Oolite Arts (2022); Notices in Mutable Terrain, curated by Adler Guerrier at Fundación Atchugarry (2019); and Tensions in 3 Dimensions, curated by Ryan Roa at Deering Estate Spring Contemporary (2019).

Rifas has received numerous awards and public commissions, including a 2025 Artist-in-Residence at Deering Estate and the Miami Individual Artist Stipend from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs (2023 & 2024). Her public art commissions include works for the Miami-Dade Civil & Probate Courthouse and Caribbean Village: Welcome to the Village, both part of the Miami-Dade Art in Public Places program.

Rifas taught at the New World School of the Arts for many years, as well as at the Kendall Campus of Miami Dade College and the University of Miami. In 2024, the University of Miami acquired Rifas’s archives for their Special Collections, a branch of the UM Library system dedicated to preserving and providing access to rare and unique scholarly resources.