Michael Kelley

February 10, 1961-December 29, 1987

Artist, Printmaker, Painter

Summer Pound , Etching, 18 X 24 inches 1984

Michael Kelley: an Appreciation

By Jennifer Dickson RA

These words are a Tribute from one artist to another. Tragically Michael Kelley died before he had had the time to reach his full potential as an artist: but the potential was impressive.

I met Michael first in 1986 when he was an assistant to Simon Dresdnere and Judy Scolnik at Gallerie Dresdnere in Toronto. I was bringing my portfolio of etchings of water gardens to show Simone and Judy, Michael was there. We met. His response to my work was extraordinary, finally I had met a fellow artist who understood without any verbal dialogue exactly what is was I was attempting to communicate.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. In time I got to know both Michael and his work better. He was a born printmaker with an intuitive understanding of the more profound possibilities of the medium. This was coupled with great painterly aptitude, a feeling for spontaneity and gesture, and a brilliant understanding of colour. In Michael’s work colour was never a mindless indulgence: it was used analytically and sparingly to great aesthetic effect.

As a person, Michael had an enormous integrity. He lived on many levels of sensibility. His thoughtfulness towards his friends continued even when he was totally debilitated in the final phase of his terminal illness. He is an example to all of us of the triumph of the spirit over the fragility of the body.

Hanging in my home is an etching by Michael Kelley of a summer pound: a gift from his parents there is a sense of light flickering over water, water which is complex and moving on many levels. It seems to me symbolic of Michael bout aesthetically, and personally.

Michael’s life touched so many people in different and profound ways. We will continue to be illuminated by his intelligence, and his grace

Jennifer Dickson RA 4^th September 1989

Gallery

Images on this page are from installation photographs of a Memorial Exhibition held at the Nickel Museum at the University of Calgary in the fall of 1988. They are representative of the prevailing themes in his work of nature, self and sexuality

Nature

Winter Reflections, Etching, 18 X 24 inches 1984

Summer Pound , Etching, 18 X 24 inches 1984

Human Experience

Hard Pillows

Early Evening

Changing Lines

Images on this page are from installation photographs of a Memorial Exhibition held at the Nickel Museum at the University of Calgary in the fall of 1988

This page is under construction by Joe Lewis to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of his passing in Calgary Alberta Canada,