Artist Statement
My work investigates my feral childhood, the between-space between neglect and whimsy in the arid Southern California landscape. Questioning the construct of the American dream; the ways it failed my family and how we survived. I use symbolic images and multimedia applications to explore speculative memories, how we inhabit spaces, or disappear within them. Giving material form to my memories within these relationships instigates a decay of self-presence. The object now holds the memory. Spaces are drawn, flattened, then reimagined in hollow line or dimension without form. An act of unsettling and repopulating. My objects are utilitarian, simple, awkward, and absurd. My drawings rely heavily on line. My performances explore the artifacts that remain once they are finished. They investigate care, sometimes gendered sometimes not. It’s unclear if these spaces and objects I create are public or if viewing them is an intrusion into a private moment. This uncertainty excites me
Biography
Kelly Marshall (b. 1978) resides in Seattle, WA with her family. As a multidisciplinary project-based artist, she creates a range of work centered around concepts of maternal exhaustion, invisible labor, and minor feelings in domestic spaces. She followed her BA in Applied Art and Design from San Diego State University with a career as an educator and owner of Color, Construct Create Studios. Marshall holds a Masters Degree in Special Education and an MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art. Marshall’s exhibition/publication history includes The Jen Tough Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; The Visionary Projects, NY; Shockboxx Project, Hermosa Beach, CA; Artist/Mother Network, Juried Exhibition; Roaring Artist Gallery; Maternal Art Magazine; and The Front Arte & Cultura, San Ysidro, CA. She has been artist-in residence at the Stay Home Gallery in Paris, TN, The Jen Tough Gallery, Chateau Orqueveaux and is the Director of Student Success at The Northwest School for the Arts in Seattle, WA.