Joel Kelley

Family and tribal heritage have been working their way out of my head and heart into my art for many years. I feel my way through each project - sometimes with a thought and inspiration I cannot wait to unleash, other times I just begin and let the process guide my hands. Conscious, subconscious, light, dark, right hand, left hand, large shapes, fine detail, refined, distressed - it all finds its way out of who I am and who I’m not, leading to something that shows there can be life after death.

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Life after loss is a theme and thread of artist Joel Kelley’s family. His great-great grandfather’s legacy of surviving the Trail of Tears has endowed each member with the spirit to make the most of life. Beauty from ashes and multiple ‘second’ chances, inspire Joel as he applies various media to animal bone. The skulls of BonArt represent the circle of life and the connections that enrich and nourish that energy.