A R T I S T S T A T E M E N T

My work is endlessly inspired by the Coast - from land to sea. Being visually tactile, I gravitate to organic forms and textural shifts created through luminosity and complexity of line and shadow. I am drawn to the perfection of Nature and beauty found in the imperfect, from delicate to grandiose to those things left to ruin: the lull of the ocean and the organic fragments it heaves upon the shore, life borne of warm earth, and the character-laden walls of dilapidated spaces; I yearn for their quietude. Conveying the poetic stillness of these quiet moments in my artwork is necessary and eases my soul.

I favor the abstract nature and solemn, silent beauty of B&W photography as it allows me to remove the extraneous while developing mood and a more emotive expression. In addition to my gear, I find my most invaluable tools to be the weather, the tides, and a generous amount of patience. I seek out the extraordinary in the ordinary and isolate my subjects in order to form candid and intimate moments of solitary intention. Through my quietly evocative images, I offer lyrical stories to the impermanence of our natural surroundings.

Using only professional grade, archival materials, my abstract works are a minimalist gesture of movement and texture. Working in acrylics and mixed media, I methodically build layer upon layer on the canvas to mimic the complex characteristics of terrain and atmosphere found in the very same landscapes and seascapes I capture behind the lens. As an intuitive Artist, I am mindful of composition but openly welcome fortuitous occurrences during the process. I utilize a curated, refined palette of neutral, muted hues, with only slight tonal shifts resulting in quiet, organic art pieces. My fluid works require tremendous control and meticulous placement of pigments, as well as use of negative space, to ultimately achieve a sense of ethereal calm.

With genuine intention and gentle restraint in composition and palette, my works create a mindfulness, a tranquil, intimate sense of place.

B I O

Kelly O'Leary is a Fine Art Photographer, Artist, and Designer. Born in Southern FL and raised in the Midwestern United States, this life-long, self-taught, multidisciplinary visual artist specializes in B&W seascapes, landscapes, and nature photography as well as minimalist abstract paintings. As an adult, innumerable moves as a military spouse have taken her across-country, from mountain to sea and back again. After spending a great deal of time residing along the Georgia and Carolina coasts, she currently lives and works on the Northeastern coast of Florida.

Kelly is a true observer of the tactile nature of things, a seeker of light and shadow in our natural surroundings, particularly in her beloved Coastal environments. Since childhood, art in all forms has been a therapeutic mechanism, a means to escape the chaos. From drawing to sewing to music to painting; all therapeutic mechanisms. At a young age, Kelly became enthralled with the works of Ansel Adams, Frank Lloyd Wright, Georgia O’Keefe, Edward Weston, Andrew Wyeth, and even Alberto Vargas. She would peer into windows and roam the halls of the local art museum sitting mere yards from her childhood home. A poetic collaboration of influences fed Kelly's deep and profound love of fine art and design, her acute observation of fine details, and fervent desire to connect with our natural world and observe its quiet intricacies within her work.

While raising her family, Kelly has never stopped evolving as an Artist; she continued to research, explore, and experiment in both her photography and paint mediums, honing her techniques. Having first parlayed her innate skills into Interior Design and creating her first abstracts on canvas, she quickly found her passion to be behind the lens. Her travels have only expanded her purview and heightened her longing to create lyrical stories of our ephemeral world through her images. Kelly's background in design and affinity for the coast, significantly inform her work. Her quiet and tranquil B&W photographic compositions, refined palettes and neutral hues found in her abstract works, as well as her keen eye for balance and scale are all product of her strong sense of aesthetic.

Kelly formally emerged in late Fall of 2021, being accepted into her first international juried group photographic exhibit 'Abandoned: Time & Place' with The Chateau Gallery in Louisville, KY as part of the Louisville Photo Biennial. With numerous on-going personal projects, she continues to create and show her work, exhibiting in international juried group exhibitions including 'The Ephemeral and The Evanescence' in Rome, Italy with LoosenArt and most recently, 'Liquid~Sky' with Praxis Gallery in Minneapolis, MN. You can also find her work recently published in SHOTS Magazine No. 158 Winter Issue, 2023 and the forthcoming All About Photo Magazine Nature Issue 33. Kelly's artwork is held in a corporate collection in Englewood, NJ as well as with private collectors throughout the continental US.