In November 2024, the A. E. Backus Museum awarded Kathleen Sienna Kelly's studio painting, Forgiveness Ginnie Spring (2024) the Best of Show
during the annual The Best of the Best fine art exhibit.
Three independent jurors selected 70 paintings from over 300 entries to exhibit in the gallery.
during the annual The Best of the Best fine art exhibit.
Three independent jurors selected 70 paintings from over 300 entries to exhibit in the gallery.
"Peace, Robinson Preserve (2024)."
By invitation of the Conservation Foundation
© 2024 Kathleen Sienna Kelly, Oil on Canvas, Diptych, Gallery-wrap, 36" W x 12" H x 1.5" D
Kathleen Sienna Kelly
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
Sustainability through the Art of Plasticity (Paint)
My work holds deep meaning and I love it for all the ways it creates access to beauty in the present.
I am grateful for my team - together, we reach farther and deliver greater - far beyond dreams come true! Please let us know how we can be of service as you explore the original art and custom site experiences designed by Sun Sea Originals.
My favorite elements include the water, sunlight, reflected color, time-based processes, and the distinctive presence of specific locations "Sustainability through the Art of Plasticity". The significance of meaning is relevant to each canvas as well as combined works for exhibit, immersive experiences (technology) and multi-year, large-scale works including my Artist Surveys.
I am a purest for color.
We didn't have paint in the house when I was a kid. So, I made other substances act like paint and all surfaces had potential. The fact that this instigated the most unpleasant reactions from family and resulted in physical harm to my body seemed completely unrelated.
Color is candy. When color found liquid form, as in paint, I was catapulted from the limits of my 11-year old existence. Here, mixing and matching color was as easy as 'monkeys' jumping on the bed'. The fact that this would shock and stump humans towering over me in disbelief created an unspoken yet significant buoy of hope in my world.
Why a bouy of hope? 12 months earlier, my mom had committed suicide in our basement. From that time on, I could be found most evenings drawing at the kitchen table. Here I discovered through drawing I could enter into a miraculous state of invisibility (albeit fleeting).
Color is air. Paint is Life.
As a child, I was already walking in a reality adults had yet to perceive for themselves. The world was all at once full of mysteries, limitless color and each evening an adventure would avail.
Fast forward to Open Air painting. At the request of the Conservation Foundation (Osprey). I painted on location at Robinson Preserve (photo at top). Painting plein air is all about the here and now of the moment - the world of canvas and the world beyond the edge. To this day, it is about the moment in which it all fuses, together. I effervesce into the air as a kid, again.
How could the ultimate goal in life be the most exhilarating departure through color?
This is my work and my reality as a contemporary painter.
This is my work and my reality as a contemporary painter.
Location as Launch
Canvas as Sensory Gathering
Paint Infused with Substance
Painting and Collector; Story and Storyteller
The academic training from noteworthy professors while earning an MFA within the Hartford Art School (2000) and a BFA at Paier College of Art equipped me in the highest regard to engage in historical art discourse, excel in art and design professions, teach thousands of artists, and elevate the process and outcomes of painting.
Through painting, I have matured and restarted life, again. Several times. Painting has taught me about process. Process reveals steps. Steps give way to patience. Patience observes time needed to overcome. Time needed to wait, while a layer of paint dries. We are all one practical and direct approach away from a masterpiece.
I really must give credit to someone who's life goal is to exist behind the scenes! My friend, The Underpainting. He often arrives early and slips out. Then when no one notices, comes to the surface with the most unexpected and elegant backstory - a sublime twist which amuses me.
The Florida landscape is both vast and dangerous, I love it. The wild sea and prairies are often in direct conflict with human capabilities. And yet, an easel is erected in sandbars or at a distance from alligator edges. Being present while mixing color in the sky is a superpower. I choose to paint what would not otherwise exist where few have access.
I want my work to be loved by people from all cultures and locations around the world! My work exists to be both the access point and the portal. We live in a time when access to water is less prevalent than 10-years ago. My work anticipates and overcomes future barriers to proximity and limitation. Each painting creates an actual place for the heart to wander in the open air, sunlight, sea, and sky.
Kathleen Kelly
Come Along Side Us On This Wonderful Art Journey in Paradise!
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Acrylic Painting Lido Key Beach
Storm Clearing with Double Rainbow © 2022 Kathleen Sienna Kelly Acrylic on Canvas, 50" w x 35" h x 1.5" d
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