Artist: Kelly McKernan
Kelly McKernan is an artist and illustrator from Atlanta, Georgia who has, since her youth, possessed the ambition to be a full time creator. She is a graduate of Kennesaw State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. While her training was in traditional painting, her focus has been in mixed media, specifically in combining film photography and advanced darkroom techniques with aqueous media painting. Over the last two years, Kelly has received local, national, and international recognition for her unique work, has been printed in a number of major publications, and is currently showing with several notable galleries. She is also a member of the Cheap Paper artist collective.
Kelly’s work is defined by internal struggle in its many forms through personal growth. She illustrates various situations for her female protagonists to interact with through symbolic elements in vague settings. These scenes often comment on the operating consequences of idealism and fantasy due to naivety and youth with two opposing forces at work: natural inclination versus cognitive reasoning. These rival dualities are further represented by stylistic differences and the contrasting mediums of photography and painting. There is deeply personal meaning to be found as the multi-layered struggles depicted in her current body of work reflect her interests and concerns as a growing woman with a penchant for idealism.
