DEPOT Shop | Toi Toa Maker of the Month for June 2026 is Karen Rubado
Each month, DEPOT Shop | Toi Toa highlights one of the talented makers whose work is available in our gallery shop. For June 2026, we are proud to feature textile artist Karen Rubado.
Karen Rubado is a Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) based artist working primarily with hand weaving techniques. Her practice moves between structure and spontaneity, creating works that feel both carefully constructed and open to subtle shifts. Through this approach, she explores identity, memory, and belonging, drawing attention to the quiet ways we understand ourselves in relation to the spaces we inhabit.
Karen completed her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts in 2017. Since then, she has developed a strong and thoughtful exhibition history across Aotearoa. Recent exhibitions include detours and daydreams at RM Gallery and Project Space and Suburbia, Iteration 22 at Northart, alongside earlier presentations at Melanie Roger Gallery, Corban Estate, and Te Tuhi. Across these projects, her work has steadily evolved while maintaining a clear focus on process, material, and the psychological dimensions of making.
At the heart of Karen’s practice is a slow, attentive way of working. Her weaving unfolds through repetition, with patterns built gradually over time. This process has a meditative quality, sitting somewhere between concentration and mind wandering. Within that rhythm, small disruptions begin to emerge. Threads shift, tensions change, and irregularities appear within the structure.
Karen completed her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts in 2017. Since then, she has developed a strong and thoughtful exhibition history across Aotearoa. Recent exhibitions include detours and daydreams at RM Gallery and Project Space and Suburbia, Iteration 22 at Northart, alongside earlier presentations at Melanie Roger Gallery, Corban Estate, and Te Tuhi. Across these projects, her work has steadily evolved while maintaining a clear focus on process, material, and the psychological dimensions of making.
At the heart of Karen’s practice is a slow, attentive way of working. Her weaving unfolds through repetition, with patterns built gradually over time.
This process has a meditative quality, sitting somewhere between concentration and mind wandering. Within that rhythm, small disruptions begin to emerge. Threads shift, tensions change, and irregularities appear within the structure. Rather than correcting these moments, Karen allows them to remain visible. These imperfections become an essential part of the work, marking moments of change and introducing a sense of unpredictability. They reflect the idea that experience is rarely smooth or controlled, and that meaning often forms through interruption as much as intention.
Material also plays an important role in her practice. Karen often works with found or familiar materials, transforming them through hand-making into something newly resolved. There is an openness in this process, where decisions are made in response to what is happening in the moment. Her weaving balances planning with improvisation, allowing each piece to evolve naturally rather than following a fixed outcome.
Karen is also a resident artist at Studio D3 in Devonport, located above the Toi Toa gallery shop at 3 Victoria Road. As part of this shared studio environment, she works alongside a community of artists who actively contribute to the creative life of the area. Studio D3 supports artists with accessible, sustainable workspaces while creating opportunities for connection through initiatives such as Open Studios. This local context grounds her practice within a wider network of people, place, and creative exchange.
Her work gently challenges expectations of both craft and contemporary art. It does not aim for perfection or resolution, but instead embraces the irregular, the intuitive, and the unresolved, inviting a slower way of looking where small details and subtle shifts come into focus.
Explore a selection of Karen Rubado’s work below, or pop in-store to see what’s currently available. 3 Victoria Road, Devonport. Open Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm.
