Born in East Amherst, NY, Kelsey was artistic from the very beginning, pursuing creative endeavors at a very young age. The artist studied at St. Lawrence University, majoring in Fine Arts, Environmental Studies, and Psychology. Focusing on painting and printmaking, Kelsey found it difficult to tear herself away from the studio. She sold her first paintings while attending St. Lawrence, still naive to her future fate as a professional artist. Post graduation, Kelsey traveled to Southern California with no intentions of staying, but the West Coast art world had other designs in mind. Patrons and dealers starting showing lucrative interest, enabling Kelsey the freedom and excitement of painting full time. Her vacation had become permanent; California was her new home. Kelsey’s work, in general, is marked with a clear expression of nature, where the realm of environment and the viewer take continued, colorful journeys. Deep spiritual and emotional inspiration, allow the artist to evoke inward thoughts and convictions using various media. Kelsey’s paintings are in private and public collections throughout the United States, as well as in Italy, Dubai, Singapore, and China. Nostalgia is a sentimental longing or wistful desire for elements of the past. I aim to explore this word in depth by confronting sentimental subject matter with the use of traditional media merged with significant, unconventional media including vintage ephemera dating back to the 1920’s. Driven to bring new life to objects that might otherwise be lost or deteriorated in time, I collect traces of lives lived – “memories misplaced in need of recognition” – and use them in my work collaboratively with the paint itself. Most often I work with with vintage ephemera, oil, acrylic, and graphite. The work reaches for a balance between the past and the present, while acknowledging what might trigger sentimentality in the future. The [Storyline] panels represent the past and the present through the collaborative merging of styles and media. Each panel is meant to tell a story; each section within a panel is part of that story. When the panels are displayed in a large installation the viewer is able to experience the unity between everyone’s story, past & present, and how the idea of nostalgia is quite meaningful, though triggered differently for each individual. The figures represent the past by way of fashion, form, modesty, and vintage ephemera. They represent the present by way of technique, background, and contemporary media. Vintage elements expressed in contemporary times. These figures are often subtle beauties that resemble those from decades past. Their body language is more classic, less presumptuous, and their faces sometimes hidden. The hats they wear allow for anonymity and subtlety while expressing confidence and beauty at the same time.
https://vimeo.com/184290931