University Trustee Karen Diesl Bruett ’66 is developing her talent for watercolor painting as the next adventure of her life. She majored in English at St. Lawrence, has a successful career in Manhattan in marketing, owns her own consultancy firm, and shares her love for art with an emerging collection of original watercolors.

“I’d call myself an aspiring artist,” she laughs, recalling her parents’ training in art, and a class in Printmaking at St. Lawrence as two inspirations for her talents.  The printmaking class “exposed me to some very interesting people and stimulated my brain in ways that I had not experienced before,” says Karen.  Her career and family demanded most of her time in the decades after college, but as priorities shift, Karen is making more time to paint what she loves most—the landscapes of Vermont, where she and her husband, Bill ’66, spend much of their summer.

“Our lives are so busy that it’s hard to stop and appreciate beauty around us.  I’m lucky that I can find the time, and it gives me great pleasure to create a painting that might cause someone else to notice that scene of beauty,” she says.  A lifelong learner, Karen is taking art studio classes at the School of Visual Arts in Summit, NJ, near her home in Far Hills.

Karen devotes much of her time to St. Lawrence, serving as chair of the Committee on Trustees of the Board of Trustees, as past vice chair of the board, and as one of the University’s most effective and dedicated fundraising volunteers.


"December Morning on Lake Champlain" 2006