Linda Kelly

Linda Kelly is a Fredericton based artist where she has been an Instructor in Drawing and Foundations at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design for over 20 years.  She holds a BA (English Lit) from UNB and a BFA (Fine Art and Art Education) and an MA (Art Education) from NSCAD.  Her main practice is in drawing and mixed - media.  Her artwork is based in observation, with an increasing bent toward abstraction and narrative.  She is greatly influenced by living in a semi rural area, with her subject matter from this familiar, natural environment.  Linda exhibits regularly; her artwork is in numerous private collections, in the University of New Brunswick Art Bank, and the collection of New Brunswick College of Craft and Design

Statement 

These drawings of common weeds are inspired by botanical illustrations, especially the historical tradition of both the amateur and professional botanist who studied and catalogued the flora in their surroundings.  The several drawings here are part of an ongoing series of the weeds found in New Brunswick. I also garden and I do pull out a lot of weeds.  Then as an artist I bring some into the studio to draw.  I admire the weed's tenacity and I find the forms beautiful, especially the root tendrils. I use various approaches in the drawings, depending on mood or the character of the plant:either playful or dramatic or carefully rendered, either in mixedmedia or more straight- forward materials.