Courtesy Untitled (In praise of shadow), No. 1; Untitled (In praise of shadow), No. 2; ‘Composition with Grapefruit.'

WHO: Karen Mahaffy, 37

MEDIUM: Digital video, ink and pencil on paper, mixed media

BEST KNOWN FOR: Digital video still-lifes. “With video, there's an element of time that is absent in painting or photography that incorporates change and the ambient nature of the context of the objects, including sound,” Mahaffy said. “I find myself drawn to things that are a little more subtle in nature and trying to find ways that video can catch things that slip past our perception sometimes.”

Karen Mahaffy

CURRENTLY: Her work in the two-woman show with Erin Curtis at Unit B Gallery, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” includes videos of wallpaper patterns and the shadows cast by household objects, which shift with the changing light. In the group show “Still Life in New Time” at UTSA, Mahaffy displays videos of arrangements of objects filmed for a few minutes at a time on and off over a few weeks. In one nine-minute video, a grapefruit placed on a pile of books slowly decays, eventually attracting fruit flies. In another piece, the viewer sees a bar of soap diminish, a votive candle burning down and flowers wilting over the course of the four-minute video. These are daily occurrences, but put into this context, the viewer is forced to slow down and “recognize our capability to see the erotic nature of the everyday,” Mahaffy said. The figure that presumably is using the soap and lighting the candle is never seen, only implied by the objects' existence and change. Each video also includes an auditory element, such as the sound of running water or, in the grapefruit video, Mahaffy's readings of key excerpts from the books placed with the fruit.

BACKGROUND: The Illinois native earned her BA in fine arts from Hope College in Holland, Mich., and her MFA in sculpture from UTSA.

PAYING THE BILLS: Mahaffy teaches digital art at Palo Alto College, where she is chair of the Fine & Performing Arts/Speech Communication department.

CHECK HER OUT: “The Yellow Wallpaper” runs through Sept. 7 at Unit B Gallery, 500 Stieren St. Call (312) 375-1871 or unitbgallery.com. “Still Life in New Time” runs through Sept. 16 in the Arts Building at UTSA's 1604 campus. Call (210) 458-4391.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA contributor