ARTIST BIO
Kelly Kirkpatrick is a multi-media artist working and living in Toronto. Kirkpatrick graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design with an honours AOCAD Diploma in 2002. She started her commercial career as a lookbook and artbook designer in London and went on to become a magazine art director in Canada and the US. Kirkpatrick sold her first pieces at the age of 8 when she was commissioned to draw a series of cards to be sold at a fun store in Calgary, Heffalumps and Woozles. Kirkpatrick has always had a fondness for bold imagery, typography, different media and how they present on paper. Her commercial work has won awards internationally and has been published in Canada, the US and the UK. In early 2022, she joined the Women’s Art Association of Canada and for the first member’s show themed, Awakening, her piece MOTHERHOOD was well received and sold right away. The exhibition From Nature to Abstraction spawned an idea to experiment with flowers of different kinds to be used to apply combinations of ink and acrylic on watercolour paper. Kirkpatrick has shown her work consistently in exhibitions at the Dignam Gallery for the past year. Her first solo exhibition, Did Someone Say Flowers? consists of the past year of her work in the Ruth Upjohn gallery June 2023, located in the Women’s Art Association of Canada.
DID SOMEONE SAY FLOWERS? June 2023, Solo show in the Ruth Upjohn Gallery
https://womensartofcanada.ca/news-events/kelly-kirkpatrick-ruth-upjohn-gallery/
AWAKENING May-June 2022, Member's show in the Dignam Gallery
The pandemic brought mothers to their knees. Online schooling and isolation became anxiety, desperation, overwhelm and burnout that arose as a result of those days that blended into each other for what felt like an eternity. This piece shows the pain of what should have been a happy time turned upside down where there was no control, and the ability to get through the day felt impossible. As we are slowly, little by little accepting what was, what now is, how we are changed, and how we will never be the same, it is a time of awakening as things begin to turn around.
FROM NATURE TO ABSTRACTION Sept 2022, Member's show in the Dignam Gallery
Experimenting with India ink and acrylic to employ a flower for painting supple black lines with qualities unique to the flower itself. These abstract pieces consist of two extremes; the void of colour and sum of all colours, creating a disorienting relationship between a black and white painting, and the chromatic spectrum that a flower represents.
SMALL GEMS December 2022, Member's show in the Dignam Gallery
I am continuing to explore the mark making works I created by painting with tulips, dahlias and hydrangeas dipped in a rich black media on paper. I love to see each type of flower's individual markings and visual personality come to life. Creating these works in an uncontrolled and experimental way encourages me to stay in a visceral state of action which is fast and instinctual. I am evolving my work by using colour as a way to push the parameters and further emphasize the line and shape of these floral motifs.
BLACK & WHITE Jan-Feb 2023, Member's show in the Dignam Gallery
COMMERCIAL BIO
Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Kelly went south to Lamar University in Texas on a golf scholarship where she completed a B.A. with Honours, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Art, French, and Marketing. Upon graduation, Kelly spent a brief time in Quebec, heading up Hatley Clothing & Gift’s marketing department for the US & Canada. Her aunt Alice Oldland, Hatley's founder and OCA grad, encouraged Kelly to apply to art school in order to pursue a more creative endeavour. As a result, Kelly moved to Toronto, completing an Honours degree at the Ontario College of Art & Design.
Kelly furthered her career with a 3 year stint in London, UK and worked for Isambard Thomas, one of the world’s foremost typographers and book designers whose clients include The Victoria & Albert Museum, The Royal Academy of Arts and Grimshaw Architects. Kelly was introduced by Mr. Thomas to Alan Fletcher to help her figure out what to do next. He advised her to pursue magazine art direction based on her keen eye for photography and knack for editorial design. She passionately worked as an art and creative director specializing in fashion photoshoots for several years at magazines in London, Toronto, and New York.
Kelly has worked across most creative mediums with experience in print, interactive, editorial, branding, strategy and film. Her work has been featured in the Communication Arts Photography Annual, Applied Arts Magazine, and the Creative Review, UK.
Kelly has won 2 Advertising & Design Club of Canada Awards and 3 National Magazine Awards; Gold Fashion & Beauty, Merit Fashion & Beauty, Merit Art Direction of a Single Article for her print work. For commercial digital work, she has won a Horizon Interactive Award and a CSS Award Nomination for the Site of the Day. Her commercial work can be viewed here: https://kelly-k.format.com/
Kelly has always had the heart of an artist which shows up in every piece she's created. She lives in Toronto with her husband and 3 children.