Kelley Simons, artist

My paintings and drawings are pieces in a never ending narrative series that explores memory, nostalgia, and trauma with a dark and surreal humor. I am driven by an ongoing need to examine evidence from the past and transform difficult experiences into visual narratives that reveal meaning or provide comfort. I create illustrative images that invite the viewer in with elegantly rendered, highly detailed scenes that skew to reveal a different perspective. 

I always knew I wanted to be an artist, but growing up I found few models for what that could look like in my small, blue collar community. As a girl, I felt constrained by the creative offerings that seemed available to adult women­—sewing, knitting, crocheting, and crafting—and I knew by their association to women and the domestic that they weren’t considered serious areas of exploration.

I return often to these handmade objects for inspiration in my work. Plaids, calicos, and floral fabrics patterned into quilts, meticulously created for use in the home but dismissed as women’s work and relegated to thrift store shelves are a metaphor for the unacknowledged craftsmanship and creativity of women. The obsessive pattern-making and repetition in my work are a creative meditation, and reclamation of women’s traditional techniques. 

Tip #2, Spread from 25 Tips: A Guide to Surviving a Pandemic, 8”x11.5”, watercolor and gouache on paper.
Tip #2, Spread from 25 Tips: A Guide to Surviving a Pandemic, 8”x11.5”, watercolor and gouache on paper.

For the past year, I have been working on a series of drawings to be collected in a printed booklet titled 25 Tips: A Guide for Surviving a Pandemic, inspired by similar pamphlets issued by the government in the 1960’s on how to survive a nuclear attack. These drawings explore my traumatic experience of the pandemic, and reflect the futility of the ways I tried to combat the virus. They reference cold war era civil defense materials that communicate actionable, yet completely pointless guidance for surviving the unsurvivable. My aim is to publish this work as a limited edition artist’s book in 2023.

Follow me on Instagram @kelleysimonsart

Small Works 2022 includes 200 works of art by 200 artists from 32 states and runs through Friday, December 23, 2022.

Recent Posts

Plein Air 2023 (part 2)

“To create a ‘plein air’ painting composition, I need to connect with the subject from experiences in my lifetime that awaken sensory perceptions. Oil painting on a smooth ampersand board lets my brush flow with the feel of the day, the light, the landscape and purpose.”

Read More »

Plein Air 2023 (Part 1)

“My approach to Plein Air is to find a simple location and to anticipate how the light will move throughout the morning. Next I do a quick sketch showing lights and darks (known as a Notan), block in color on the canvas, and try to use lots of paint to give texture to the end piece.”

Read More »

A Shiver in the Leaves

Robert Ernst Marx and Luther Hughes BOA Editions, a not-for-profit publisher of poetry and other literary works, recently released a debut collection of poetry from Seattle-based poet, Luther Hughes which

Read More »

Robin Whiteman

About a year ago a close friend referred to my “two daughters”, art and my actual kid, Anya. He nailed it. Two of my biggest loves who take up the majority of

Read More »

Arden McBride

I grew up on folk tales, campfire stories, and fantasy novels. For the longest time I was fascinated with surrealism and their ability to impose the bizarre on the mundane.

Read More »

Joshua Hudak

I started my artistic journey focusing primarily on glass. Glass is an amazing medium – it interacts with light and color in so many unexpected ways, and forming it into

Read More »

Plein Air 2023 (part 2)

“To create a ‘plein air’ painting composition, I need to connect with the subject from experiences in my lifetime that awaken sensory perceptions. Oil painting on a smooth ampersand board lets my brush flow with the feel of the day, the light, the landscape and purpose.”

Read More »

Plein Air 2023 (Part 1)

“My approach to Plein Air is to find a simple location and to anticipate how the light will move throughout the morning. Next I do a quick sketch showing lights and darks (known as a Notan), block in color on the canvas, and try to use lots of paint to give texture to the end piece.”

Read More »

A Shiver in the Leaves

Robert Ernst Marx and Luther Hughes BOA Editions, a not-for-profit publisher of poetry and other literary works, recently released a debut collection of poetry from Seattle-based poet, Luther Hughes which

Read More »

Robin Whiteman

About a year ago a close friend referred to my “two daughters”, art and my actual kid, Anya. He nailed it. Two of my biggest loves who take up the majority of

Read More »

Arden McBride

I grew up on folk tales, campfire stories, and fantasy novels. For the longest time I was fascinated with surrealism and their ability to impose the bizarre on the mundane.

Read More »

Joshua Hudak

I started my artistic journey focusing primarily on glass. Glass is an amazing medium – it interacts with light and color in so many unexpected ways, and forming it into

Read More »

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Closed 7/28 through 8/3:

We will be closed to the public Friday, July 28 through Thursday, August 4 as we install our next exhibition, Inspired By Nature. Please join us for the opening reception on Friday, August 4 from 5 to 8pm!