{"id":101011,"date":"2026-01-14T16:33:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T23:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=101011"},"modified":"2026-01-15T09:35:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T16:35:05","slug":"the-long-quiet-of-karen-andrews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/the-long-quiet-of-karen-andrews\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long Quiet of Karen Andrews"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Karen Andrews studio, January 2026, is much as she left it when she died, including her last completed painting on the easel, lovingly framed by her husband, Ron Andrews.<\/p><\/div>\n

When Alli Harbertson first walked into the Andrews home, it was the paintings that stopped her.<\/h4>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re everywhere,\u201d Harbertson recalls. The living room\u2014where Karen Andrews\u2019 hospital bed had been placed\u2014was filled with artwork, paintings covering the walls and leaning against furniture while ceramics, blankets and small sculptures covered coffee tables, bureaus and dressers. \u201cIt was one of the first things I mentioned. It was a good way to get in.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Harbertson had come late in Andrews\u2019 life. The hospice chaplain originally assigned to the family had struggled to make a connection, and Andrews and her husband, Ron, had been hesitant to accept spiritual care at all. Harbertson was asked to try. When she arrived, Andrews was already close to death. Harbertson would spend only about ten days with her.<\/h4>\n

Even so, Andrews was clear about who she was. \u201cI made all of these paintings. I\u2019m an artist,\u201d Harbertson recalls her saying, the pride evident even then. At one point Andrews instructed her husband, \u201cRon, take her around.\u201d Much of that first visit unfolded as a quiet tour of the house, Ron Andrews walking Harbertson through room after room of paintings.<\/h4>\n

For Harbertson, who has served as a hospice chaplain for four years and whose role often involves helping people articulate what they leave behind, the meaning was unmistakable. \u201cIt was so clear that that was her legacy,\u201d she says. \u201cI was able to come back to her bedside and say, \u2018You\u2019ve made something really special.\u2019\u201d<\/h4>\n

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