Joan Marie Kelly

Joan Marie Kelly has been living in Singapore since 2005. Presently, holds a faculty position at Nanyang Technological University also in Singapore. Her creative research investigates the status of migrant workers. The act of painting is an encounter with marginalized communities. These communities range from foreign workers, and maids in locations such as Kolkata, Singapore and Shenzhen.

Following my BFA, without realizing it I started an art studio for disabled adults at Keswick Multi-Care Center in Baltimore. I began gathering the adults in wheel chairs in a hallway distributing clay, while teaching hand-building techniques. The clients and I made explorations of how to manipulate materials with their bodies. A lot depended on how open they were to exploring the use of their body in new ways.

There was a young man Robert, with cerebral palsy who was very angry. He communicated with a keyboard and banged with one protruding knuckle, words of anger. Alone and away from the group I taught him how to hold one of the clay tools that cut away clay. I slipped it in between a couple of frozen still fingers. Manned with this tool he came to work the clay among the group. I watched people who were identified by their disability be...

2003-2005 Masters of Fine Arts, Western Connecticut State University, Fine Art Merit Award, Concentration: Painting
1991-1993 Bachelors of Fine Arts, Maryland Institute College of Art Concentration: painting, Magna Cum Laude

2014 15-30 April Solo Exhibition Habitat Center, New Delhi, India

2014 19-26 July HER PRESENCE IN COLOURS XI, Mongolia National Modern Art Gallery, Asian/International Woman Artists Exhibitions Series Presented by Conservatory of Fine Arts / International Women Artists Council (INWAC) Penang, Malaysia. Website:www.art-her.com

2013 4-11 October The 1st session of the China Changzhou Fine Arts and Exhibitions International Seminar

2013 28 June -7 July Marrakech Morocco hosting the “Guinness Book of World Records” for the longest painting. There are three phases to this work. Artists will be invited in three phases to complete 9 meters of painting each. The catalogue will be completed at the end of the 3rd phase. International Workshop Exhibition
Invited from reputational currency, Selection by curatorial team catalogue

2013 June 20 “Samsung Master Pieces” curator Iola Lenzi, Asia’s digital art gallery by Samsung. The exhibition is a perennial showcase of carefully curated digital art. With Masterpieces, Samsung paints a step closer as an active contributor to the arts. In celebration of Creativity, Samsung takes on a role of an enabler and a host of a dynamic platform to inspire art professionals and enthusiasts a...