Karen Valente earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Monmouth University in 1983 with majors in Fine Arts and Art History. Her area of study and influence is that of the Colonial American period. She continues her education in art through museum lectures and books on early folk art so that her work has an authenticity of style, costume, and color.

Valente's paintings are original adaptations of the style of 18th and 19th century Limners. She uses hand made reproduction oil paints similar to the pigments used then.

Her specialty is doing commissioned portraits from modern day photographs, making them look like old colonial paintings.

Valente's works have been featured in Early American Life magazine and Orion magazine. She can be seen at several shows during the year including the prestigious Waterford Foundation Crafts Exhibit. Her paintings can be found in over 100 antique and gift shops nationwide as well as the shop at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, and in private collections in the United States and Europe. She was also selected for the Early American Life Magazine Directory of Traditional American Crafts.

The artist lives with her husband in a restored 1730 farmhouse in historic Greenwich, New Jersey.

Karen Valente has been selected for the following Directories: