ABOUT KELSEY
I paint women who don’t ask permission to be seen.
Not as objects. Not as decorations. Not as someone’s fantasy of what a woman is supposed to be. My women are powerful in their own being. Sometimes that power is loud. Sometimes it’s quiet. Sometimes it’s strange, botanical, glamorous, rebellious, or a little magical. But it’s always theirs.
I’m interested in the woman who refuses to behave. The outsider. The one who’s been told she’s too much, too odd, too opinionated, too visible, too difficult to understand. I paint her as self-possessed, modern, and fully human.
Not softened into compliance or flattened into a stereotype and definitely not reduced to the male gaze.
My figures know they’re being looked at but they just don’t surrender power to the gaze.
The women in my paintings often have more confidence than I do. That’s part of why I paint them. They let me capture the kind of presence I’m still learning to claim in every part of my own life: the steady gaze, the refusal to shrink, the comfort of belonging to yourself.
I’m not mystical by nature. I’m drawn to science, observation, and proof. But fantasy lets me tell the truth more vividly. In an invented world, confidence can become visible. Rebellion can become beautiful. Dignity can become impossible to miss.
Nature is part of that language. Florals represent women to me. Birds carry freedom. Orchids fascinate me because they’re specialized, demanding, resilient, and misunderstood. They don’t flourish everywhere. They need the right light, the right conditions, the right care.
Given what they need, they thrive.
I think many people are like that too.
Not difficult. Just specific.
I’m drawn to beauty with backbone. I’m tired of seeing women forced into narrow choices: hyper-sexualized or proper, seductive or obedient, wild or acceptable. My paintings reject that. A woman can be beautiful and educated. Gentle and firm. Decorative and dangerous. Strange and worthy. Feminine and unafraid.
That matters because people still need to see themselves reflected with dignity. A Black woman once cried in my booth because the painting reflected something she rarely saw: a modern woman with humanity, confidence, and power — not a stereotype, not a symbol, and not someone else’s idea of who she was supposed to be.
That moment stayed with me because that’s what I want the work to do. I want it to recognize the people who haven’t always been recognized back.
I paint slowly because the detail matters. I like the challenge, the technical difficulty, and the evidence of a human hand. In a world flooded with instant images,
my answer is in
the work itself.
Attention is human.
Judgment is human.
Care is human.
My paintings aren’t protest posters, but they’re not neutral. They push back against anything that makes women, queer people, outsiders, and unconventional people easier to dismiss: the male gaze, stereotypes, cruelty, conformity, instant sameness, and the pressure to become more acceptable.
I make work for people who don’t want art that politely matches the couch. They want art that recognizes something in them: the part that’s colorful, confident, strange, sharp-edged, and tired of being edited down.
If you’ve ever needed a reminder that you don’t have to be smaller to be accepted, that your difference doesn’t need to be explained away, and that you’re allowed to be vivid, strange, intelligent, powerful, and fully yourself, this work was made for you.
Collect the piece that sees you before you talk yourself out of being seen.
CV
AWARDS
2022
St. Charles Fine Art Show
Chicago, IL
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Invitational Award
Art on the Square
Madison, WI
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Invitational Award
2021
4 Bridges Festival of the Arts
Chattanooga, TN
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Poster and Logo Winner
Lewiston Art Festival
Lewiston, NY
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First Place Painting
Lakeview East Festival of the Arts
Chicago, IL
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Lakeview East Poster and Event Logo
2019
Allentown Art Festival
Buffalo, NY
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First Place Allentown Poster Logo
2018
Allentown Art Festival
Buffalo, NY
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First Place: Allentown Poster Logo
East Aurora Outdoor Fine Arts Exhibit
East Aurora, NY
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Best of Show
Letchworth Arts & Craft Show
Letchworth State Park, Perry, NY
-
First Place: Theme (Painting)
2017
St. Stephens Art Show
Coconut Grove, FL
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Third Place: Mixed Media
Allentown Art Festival
Buffalo, NY
-
Third Place: Painting - Realism
Letchworth Arts & Craft Show
Letchworth State Park, Perry, NY
-
First Place: Theme (Painting)
2016
Park Ave Summer Art Festival
Rochester, NY
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First Place: Painting
Quaker Arts Festival
Orchard Park, NY
-
Best of Show
2015
Fairport Canal Days
Fairport, NY
-
Best of Show
Allentown Art Festival
Buffalo, NY
-
Third Place: Painting
Lockport Outdoor Arts & Crafts Festival
Lockport, NY
-
Best in Show
Lewiston Art Festival
Lewiston, NY
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Third Place: Mixed Media
-
Honorable Mention: Graphic Arts & Drawing
Quaker Arts Festival
Orchard Park, NY
-
Best of Show
2014
Allentown Art Festival
Buffalo, NY
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First Place: Painting - Realism
-
Honorable Mention: Watercolor
Lockport Outdoor Arts & Crafts Festival
Lockport, NY
-
First Place: Painting
Art on the Riverwalk
N. Tonawanda, NY
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Best of Show
Niagara Frontier Art Exhibit
Kenan Center, Lockport, NY
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Sheila Whalen Memorial Realism in Drawing
Quaker Arts Festival
Orchard Park, NY
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First Place: Painting
2013
Allentown Art Festival
Buffalo, NY
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Second Place: Drawing
Lockport Outdoor Arts & Crafts Festival
Lockport, NY
-
Best of Show
Canal Festival of the Tonawandas
Tonawanda, NY
-
Best of Show
Lewiston Art Festival
Lewiston, NY
-
Honorable Mention: Mixed Media
Quaker Arts Festival
Orchard Park, NY
-
First Place: Painting
2012
WNY Young Artists Exhibition
Impact Artist's Gallery, Buffalo, NY
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First Place Award
-
Honorable Mention
Visual & Creative Arts 2012 Grad Show
Sheridan College, Oakville Ontario, CA
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Award of Excellence in Recognition of the Highest Achievement for Figurative 2D Work
Canal Festival of the Tonawandas
Tonawanda, NY
-
First Place: Drawing
Niagara Frontier Art Exhibit
Kenan Center, Lockport, NY
-
Sheila Whalen Memorial Realism in Drawing Award
Quaker Arts Festival
Orchard Park, NY
-
Best of Show
2011
Creative Arts Show - Erie County Fair
Erie County, Hamburg, NY
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Directors Award
-
Best of Show
-
Second Place in Plein Air Painting
Quaker Arts Festival
Orchard Park, NY
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First Place: Painting
2010
Young Women's Exhibition
Impact Gallery, Buffalo NY
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First Place
-
Second Place
Clarence High School Advanced Placement Art Show
Clarence, NY
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Clarence Arts Society Scholarship
Allentown Art Festivals Award Ceremony
Allentown, NY
-
Allentown Village Society Art Scholarship
Art on the Riverwalk
N. Tonawanda, NY
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Honorable Mention
Niagara Frontier Art Exhibit
Kenan Center, Lockport, NY
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Sheila Whalen Memorial Realism in Drawing Award
EDUCATION
2016
Bachelor of Illustration, Sheridan College
2012
Visual and Creative Arts College Diploma, Sheridan College
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DEC 2016
First Fridays, MJ Peterson Real Estate, Buffalo NY
APR 2016
The Neighborhood, Sheridan Illustration Grad Show, Toronto ON
SEP 2014
Buffalo Society of Artists 118th Catalogue Exhibition, Hi-Temp Fabrication Gallery: Buffalo NY
JULY 2014
Niagara Frontier Art Exhibit, Keenan Center: Lockport NY
OCT 2012
20th Annual WNY Artists Regional Exhibition, Art Dialogue Gallery: Buffalo NY
FEB 2012
WNY Young Artist’s Exhibition, Impact Artists Gallery: Buffalo NY
APR 2012
Visual & Creative Arts 2012 Grad Show, Marquee: Oakville ON
MAY 2010
Young Curators Show, Albright Knox, Buffalo NY
APR 2010
Young Woman’s Exhibition, Impact Artists Gallery: Buffalo NY
PUBLICATION
NOV/DEC 2014
Vol 29 | #5 Applied Arts Magazine – Student Awards