Born on Nantucket, Karol apprenticed with old time basketmaker Reggie Reed, the son of a lighthouse keeper at the Brant Point Lighthouse.
Karol has received a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, as well as twice been a State of Massachusetts nominee for the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She has won national awards for her lightship baskets, and made presentations/demonstrations as far away as the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle.
Ceramics became a second passion for working with her hands in 2016, and she won AAN’s Liz Schaeffler Sculpture / 3D Award in 2017 for her ceramic work. She keeps a busy studio in Tom Nevers along with her husband, painter Bobby Frazier.
