Monique Kelly

About me … I have had no “formal” art training, aside from the lessons learned from life and tragedy. I’ll back up a little, but promise to keep it brief. My sister is the one with the artistic talents and art degree in fashion from FIT. My talents were more along the human services line as I taught special education for many years. As we know, life takes many turns. My sister is now an OR nurse and I, well, I work in the medical field but my passion is creating…art. After the loss of my best friend and business partner, many years ago, I carried on with business as usual (although it grew increasingly hard as a one woman show) Something “gave” about 4 years later. I was visiting my home town of Newport, Rhode Island, looking at a piece of property I could only imagine owning in my dreams, and I suddenly felt like I was hit by a boat load of gratitude. Out of nowhere, I felt grateful for the beautiful city I grew up in, for the opportunity to have had my senior prom at the Rosecliff Mansion.  I thought that the winding weeds on the side of the rotting tree next to me looked sculptural and beautiful. As I was still mourning the death of my best friend, the mourning turned into gratitude. I knew in an instant that I was so very fortunate to have had him in my life and that I would cherish that friendship forever. I felt happy and invigorated. I started to look at things differently I started to “see” them differently.

Over the next few years I was really into photography. When you look through the lens of a camera, you naturally see things from a different perspective. I started to see everything that way, without the lens of the camera. I was finding myself appreciating everything. EVERYTHING! From the mud on my boots to the water I used to brush my teeth. I was no longer irritated by things like traffic, a slow driver, someone preaching on the street…it’s all in how you see things. The mud on my boots meant I had boots to wear and I could walk in the dirt. That slow driver might be a new or nervous driver or someone who was lost. Or that person on the street, preaching whatever it was to whoever was around, realizing that it has nothing to do with the content being preached, but more about the human soul on fire. The PASSION!

Fast forward to present day. I’ve always been attracted to flea markets, vintage items, the exciting find on the curb waiting to be rescued and given new life, or as my husband simplifies, I’ve always been attracted to JUNK.  (Hmm, he really should think about that for a minute.) Being able to see things and appreciate them immediately for what they are, rusty, slightly imperfect, not quite as good as new or a diamond in the rough,(kind of like the people in our lives) . Hopefully we appreciate the people and life experiences we encounter, as it’s our experiences that make us who we are meant to be. Since my life changing revelation of gratitude, my art has been thrust to the forefront of my life. I now see the aged and decaying items for what they can be…the beauty is just beneath the surface. In using found objects to create my art pieces, I bring forth a new purpose for the once discarded items and birth an “upcycled soul”. Much like the experiences and people in my life have upcycled my soul.