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“There is always a place where women live near trees, that blowing in the wind, sound like music. These women tell stories to their children both to frighten and delight them. These women, they are fluttering lanterns on the hills, the fireflies in the night, the faces that loom over you and recreate the same unspeakable acts that they themselves lived through. There is always a place where nightmares are passed on through generations like heirlooms...
I come from a place where breath, eyes and memory are one, a place from which you carry your past like the hair on your head. Where women return to return to their children as butterflies, or as tears in the eyes of the statues that their daughters pray to. My mother was as brave as stars at dawn. She too was from this place”

                                                               -Edwidge Danticat
                                                         Breath, Eyes, Memory
                                                                     Vintage Books

Shan Kelly’s work is magic, poetry, fantasy and realism. Her watercolor, unique in their translucent layering of color, are marvelously complex and detailed creations that evoke the wonder, myths, rituals and everyday struggles of her native Caribbean island. The presence of women -iron strong Caribbean women- predominate in her work. For her, they represent the power of the matriarchy in cultures like hers and she attempts to portray strength as beauty and create imagery that give voice to their perception of the world. She always maintains vibrancy, introspection and a deep feeling of spirituality in her work.

Born on the Caribbean island of Nassau in the Bahamas, Kelly grew up sketching charcoal and pencil portraits. She admits to having had to overcome a fear of using colors, being humbled and awe-struck by the abundance of colors in everything around her. Her first tools were popsicle sticks and match sticks for applying paint, and she used the white card in pantyhose packages as paper. Later, when she got her first brush, she discovered the joy of watercolor painting.

She pursued formal training at the Tennessee Williams Fine Art Center in Key West, Florida. She has had solo exhibitions in Florida, the Bahamas and San Jose, CA, and she has participated in a number of group shows.
Collectors of her work include the actor Samuel L. Jackson. She currently resides in San Jose, CA.

Works by Shan Kelly

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