Conscious Creations Art Studio Owner Karen Izzi Featured in Surprise Independent
We’re proud to congratulate our LGBTQ Interest Group member, Karen Izzi, on being featured in the Surprise Independent on June 17, 2026!
Congratulations, Karen, on this well-deserved recognition! We are proud to have you as a member of our community.
Pennsylvania native nurtures creative side in local studio
By Jason Stone INDEPENDENT NEWS MEDIA
Political talk seems to dominate social media and talks at the dinner table these days ー especially with primary election season in full swing. But there is one place in Surprise where you won’t hear any of that Pennsylvania-transplant Karen Izzi started Conscious Creations Art Studio in the Original Town Site a couple years ago, partly as a way to bring together people with vary opinions in a non-judgement zone.
“This is a safe place to come,”Izzi said. “We make art, and we develop friendships outside of the divide. “I pride our studio on being able to sit across from the table from each other and not have that controversy or conflict.”
The 58-year-old Izzi said the common denominator is everybody wants peace. That is what she hopes her art studio brings people four days a week.
Conscious Creations Art Studio at 16511 N. Dysart Road has been open for a couple of years now, bringing together artists of all ages and abilities to create fun or therapeutic projects and local artists to sell their jewelry, pottery and fine art.
Izzi hosts everything from a women’s writing group to making homemade pasta in her art space. “Part of my mission is older people with disabilities, younger people who are artists and then everyone in between,” Izzi said.
Moment of Zentangle
Owning a doctorate in metaphysics and holistic health, Izzi is a fiber artist, a reflexologist and a Reiki practitioner, just to name a few of her talents. She has authored three books, including a poetry, art and photography one published at the end of 2024. It had been in the works since she was in high school in the 1980s.
“Once I heard, when we die, we only have used 3% of our brain, and that really bothered me,” Izzi said. “I don’t want to be that person. I want to keep reading and learning.”
Izzi is also an art therapist and a teacher of a new fashionable art technique called Zentangle, which is an unique offering at Conscious Creations. It has been called “yoga for the brain” for its easy-to-learn drawings of structured, repetitive patterns on 3.5-by-3.5-inch cotton tiles made in Italy.
It was developed a little more than 20 years ago on the East Coast and has become popular internationally, Izzi said. In fact, the International Day of Zentangle is coming up on July 15.
“We’ve all been doodling our whole lives, basically,” Izzi said. “But it’s very mindful because you end up shading and highlighting, and there are no mistakes. That’s the tagline.”
Izzi wants to bring the art to local schools, which she said is important to combat excessive phone screen time.
“I have nieces and nephews that are on screens when I go back to visit,” Izzi said. “They don’t even look up. And it hurts me because I don’t see them often.”
Izzi is connected with WHAM, or the What’s Happening in Arts Movement, which is across the street from Conscious Creations. She works closely with the group as well as Arts HQ at City Hall. She tries not to copy what those places do and focuses on projects like Zentangle.
Desert destiny
While art has always been in her blood, Izzi had other careers before doing what she loves now. She started out as an aesthetician who owned salons in Pennsylvania and went to traditional nursing school.
When the pharmaceutical company for which her husband at the time worked transferred him to Arizona when she was 19, it was the first of multiple times she had lived in the Grand Canyon State.
It was a fitting move because Izzi’s mom told her she was drawing sunsets, cactuses and mountains as early as 6 years old.
“It kind of makes me believe in a past life because I’ve had psychics tell me the same story, no matter where I am in the country, that I had been here before,” Izzi said about her current surroundings. “I am very connected to the desert.”
After going back to Pennsylvania to open a studio she was forced to shut it down during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when everything stopped.
She ultimately moved back to Arizona with her current wife in 2021 and taught from their home and other places like retirement communities. Those moments allowed her to fulfill her need as a caregiver, for which she is certified.
“When we moved here, my wife said, you don’t have to work if you don’t want,” Izzi said. “And I said, ‘That’s fantastic, because I can practice art.’” But Izzi said it became lonely not seeing many people on a daily basis.
Then a friend suggested to he that she should open another shop in Arizona after finding so much art sitting in a closet of her home. “It kind of just sparked something in me — because I’m not ready to retire,” Izzi said. “I can’t sit around the house.”
Creative offerings Izzi hosts two retreats each year, including one that she held for about a dozen people in May in Glendale over four nights. Because she is also a self-described foodie, she also makes all the food for the retreats.
She also operates two markets a year, including outdoor ones in the parking lot where a food truck and cocktails were available as well as nearly two dozen vendors. Izzi uses Facebook to get the word out into the community.
Conscious Creations is now offering adult summer camps to go with monthly offerings like “Coffee and Abstracts,” where artists pick whatever medium they want and let the creative juices flow.
The studio has groups to make collages, work with watercolors and even put together books where they actually do the binding. Homemade spaghetti of all things is also made in the class. “We talk about stress management and letting go of anxiety,” Izzi said. “There’s a whole group that comes in from local AA programs that just love it here because it’s safe, and it’s cozy and confidential.” Izzi tries to keep class prices around $10 to encourage more people to try out the fun and therapeutic aspects of art.
“There are people in the community that need art who can’t afford $85 for one class,” Izzi said. “And I honor and respect those people because they know what they need, and they know what makes them feel good. I would never shut that group out.”
Izzi has now been in the Original Town Site location for a couple of years. She calls the location perfect for her and she loves the frequent trains that pass nearby. “I don’t fear death, but I do want to live every day that I’m here,” Izzi said. “Every day counts.” For information about the studio, visit karenizziphd.org or email karenizziphd@gmail.com.
Link: https://www.yourvalley.net/stories/the-latest-issue-of-surprise-independent,698552
Location: Conscious Creations Art Studio
16511 N. Dysart Road, Suite 111
Surprise, AZ 85378
Hours of Operations:
Sunday – Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday – Saturday: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
