Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Neibert.
Kelly, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I grew up in small rural town on the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland. I don’t have any siblings and there weren’t any other children in my neighborhood, so I spent a lot of time by myself as a kid. I’ve been drawing, painting, and making things for as far back as I can remember, so being an artist has always been a huge part of my identity. I was always pretty good at school, but art class was the only thing I really cared about.
I’m a first generation college student, so when I expressed to my parents that I intended to pursue an art degree they were… concerned, to say the least. They were always encouraging of my work, but I was venturing into completely uncharted territory, and that was understandably pretty scary for them. I was fortunate enough to have an incredible high school art teacher and mentor named Karen Papouschek, who acted as my advocate during this time. I’m happy to say that my parents eventually came around, and they’ve been supportive ever since.
I applied and was accepted to Messiah College, a small liberal arts school outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for the Fall of 2006, receiving a visual arts scholarship that enabled me to attend.
I graduated from Messiah in 2010 during the recession, and spent the next five years bouncing around between jobs and applying to grad schools. Those years were really difficult and filled with rejection, self-doubt, and failure; something that I’m very open about, especially when I’m talking with my students. Sometimes it was difficult to make art, but I never gave up.
I got accepted into The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Painting and Drawing Post Baccalaureate program in 2015, and decided to move to Chicago from Frederick, Maryland, leaving my partner of 5 years, Brian, and our cat, Stormy, behind. Being apart from them was very hard, but I made a ton of lonely, weird, funny, and sad art, fell in love with the city of Chicago, and found an fantastic community at SAIC.
I was accepted to SAIC’s Painting and Drawing MFA program in 2016 and Brian and Stormy moved here that August.
My time in grad school was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. I worked with faculty members who challenged me and truly cared, experimented with painting materials and techniques in SAIC’s state-of-the-art Studio Lab, and discovered a love for teaching through my teaching assistantships. Also, the Art Institute of Chicago is where I first encountered Pierre Bonnard and stared endlessly at the lemon in Manet’s Fish (Still Life) (thank you, Richard Hull).
I just graduated in May 2018, so I’m still figuring out my next steps, but I’m feeling very fortunate to be here in Chicago with the person I love, surrounded by such a talented and supportive group of artist-friends.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My current work is based on the places that I have lived in, and other well-known spaces that I can recall from memory. Some of my pieces are large and complex, depicting the interiors of my past and current apartments; some are smaller, more intimate vignettes of the daily interactions I have with my partner and our cat. I use painting to look toward my own familiar spaces and the people and animals that inhabit them for comfort, beauty, and comic relief.
I usually start by making exploratory drawings and collages that are based on personal photographs, observation, and memory. These small works on paper become the basis for larger oil works on canvas. Steadily rendered moments of realism press up against wild, tipping gestural fields of pattern, creating moments of tension and release within the work. The resulting paintings are tenuously grounded in reality but also dreamlike.
I often refer to my painting Bed as my “poor Millennial painting.” The mattress has no frame, there’s a hole in someone’s sock… The laptop, which could be considered a symbol of wealth and status in some contexts, is lying in a tangle of chords on an IKEA rug. It’s autobiographical, self-deprecating, funny, romantic, and intimate, and it speaks to the conditions of many members of my generation through the lens of my own experience. In the end, I hope that my viewers appreciate the way in which things are painted, and see that the content of the work is rooted in love.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
Our country’s current political climate certainly doesn’t make things easy for artists, but I know the biggest challenge that I’m facing personally is figuring out a way to balance being an artist, paying the bills, and making sure there’s enough time for rest, self-care, and spending time with friends and loved ones.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
“Window Sill” (the black and white drawing featured below) will be in a show at Woman Made Gallery called “Language of the Voiceless”, which opens September 28th in Pilsen. Also you can see what I’m up to by following me on Instagram @kellyneibert, or visiting my website, www.kellyneibert.com.
Contact Info:
- Address: Ravenswood, Chicago
- Website: www.kellyneibert.com
- Email: kn1187@gmail.com
- Instagram: @kellyneibert
Image Credit:
Photos by Kelly Neibert
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