BIO
Paula Kelley is a multidisciplinary artist working with photography, drawing, installation, painting, sculpture and video. Her research-based practice gives a specificity to her work, which is a fusion of materials that contemplate natural ecosystems and suggest cohabitation. With a self-taught and unconventional methodology in an approach to materials and processes, her background working in large scale metal sculpture gives volume to the intimate and personal work that she creates. Documenting moments with analog and digital cameras, she captures perspectives and situations that express a deep connection to time and place. Paying special attention to the subtle details within a larger scene, she records the essence of her surroundings and its conditions, challenging modernity by concentrating on a rapidly changing landscape and its inhabitants within her current hometown of Miami. The sculptures are unsettling compositions, referencing the environment fused with domestic materials. Objects made of clay and plaster ooze with candy colored wax and yarn, merging the natural and artificial while suggesting a shift in the development of local ecosystems. She mixes her sculptural works with large scale photographs to create new environments that respond to the idea of collective harmony while exploring the implications of combined materials.
Copyright owner of all images / all content
Paula J Kelley
(954) 829-3229
b.Anderson South Carolina
EDUCATION
1989-1990 // Visual Arts, College of Charleston, SC
1997-2008 // Apprentice and Assistant to Peter Giovenco, metal sculptor, Ft. Lauderdale Florida
2006-2008 // Full Circle Gallery, Ft. Lauderdale Florida, partners with Peter Giovenco showcasing and exhibiting local artists
2019 – Current // Apprentice to Lauren Shapiro, master ceramicist, Miami Florida
2020 – Associate Artist at Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami Florida
EXHIBITIONS / COMMISSIONS
Recent
2019 // bs: a look @ bus stops in Miami-Dade, HistoryMiami Museum, July 9- September 18, Miami FL – photography, ephemera, bus stop models
Previous
2019 // Photography Project for The Dalmore Society
2018 // Photography Commission for Connor Harrington
2018 // Photography Commission for Private Collection, Dallas TX
2018 // Photography Commission for Rinaldi, Collins Park Hotel, Miami Beach FL
2018 // Photography Project for Rag & Bone, NYC – Miami Design District, Miami FL
2018 // Photography Commission for Solid, Brooklyn, New York, Sun Xun Project
2017 – 2018 // Photography Project for The Rinaldi Company, New York NY
2017 // Photography Project for Rag & Bone, NYC – Miami Design District, Miami FL
2017 // Photography Project for Goldman Global Arts, Wynwood, Miami FL
2017 // Exhibition – Until the Darkness Falls / Dreams My Mother Bequeathed, Large Scale Photography, Clay Sculptures, Print on Vellum – mixed media Installation, Alfred I. DuPont Building, Diorama Project, Miami FL
2017 // Exhibition – Post Card, Northwyn Studios, Miami FL
2017 // Exhibition – Visual Remix, Gallery 2612, Miami FL
2017 // Polaroids of Sun Xun project Miami Beach – Commissioned by MA3 Agency, New York, NY
2009 // Exhibition – Book Arts, Hilton Chicago, Chicago IL
2008 // Exhibition – Bad Art, Hilton Chicago, Chicago IL
1998 – Current // Ceramic and clay sculptures, paintings and photography commissions for private clients: Boca Raton FL, Ft. Lauderdale FL, Key West FL, NYC, Greenville SC, Miami FL, Santé Fe NM, Charlotte NC, Brooklyn NY, Berkeley CA, San Francisco CA, Asheville NC, Dallas TX
