Karen Trott

Melbourne-born Karen Trott studied Fine Art at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology from 1969-72. She then worked with the Melbourne Theatre Company for five years before freelancing with the Victoria State Opera and with Scenic Studios. Since that time, she has worked with most major ballet and opera companies and with leading Australian theatre designers including John Truscott (The Pearl Fishers), Henry Bandon (La Boheme), Kenneth Rowell (Don Giovanni) and John Stoddard (Faust). She was also scenic artist on the Lyric Opera of Queensland’s productions of The Student Prince. Her talents are wide and versatile, and she is an expert in all elements of scenic art, including murals, gilding and metal, stone and marble finishes as well as complete theater, ballet and opera, soft and build scenery.

Some of her artistry has been documented in some 6 books to date. In television, she was lead scenic artist on the “Water Under The Bridge” series. She has also done special effects painting on various Film and television productions. She was Head Scenic Designer for the Commonwealth Games. In theme parks, she painted the whole of the interior of the Atlantis Nightclub in Singapore designed by Dan Flannery (1985-6) and the Aiins World miniatures buildings in South Korea, designed by Vertex Productions (2003) and more recently she worked on a Private Palace in Ukraine (2007).

Karen is currently Head Scenic Artist at the Australian Ballet Melbourne Australia. In addition to her craft mastery, Karen also holds a Class 2 Social Work designation, and she has worked with disadvantaged persons from 15 to 25 years old. At Scenic Studios she was the designated person to shepherd many young hopefuls with some of them having gone into careers in Scenic Art.