Nominator

Jennifer

Essay

Barbara Karyo is an artist, teacher and she is 71-years-old. A retired professor from Suffolk County Community College she believes in doing things that make her happy help her stay young, healthy and fulfilled.  Although retired she still teaches a ceramics class at Suffolk.  Her home has a beautiful studio filled with all of her work throughout the years.  Recently she was recognized in the press for her work helping to clean up a beach spill that dumped about 21 million plastic discs on the North Shore of Long Island.  Karyo and a friend decided to make the mishap into a fabulous work of art. She created a large fish that hangs in her studio out of the plastic discs and the head of the fish is crocheted out of plastic bags. She often takes plastic bags and crochets them into wonderful works of art such as handbags. Images of these items can be seen on her website at barbarakaryo.com.

When Kayo isn’t teaching or working in her studio she can often be found folk dancing 3-4 times a week, at the gym or gardening. When asked her secret to staying fit and vital in her seventies she simply said, "I think it’s a good sense of humor that keeps you going."