The Greater Port Clinton Area Arts Council is excited to announce the next exhibit at The Arts Garage (TAG) this spring: the dynamic works of two local resident artists – Steve and Linda Kelley.
“Moments and Memories: A Journey through Light and Shadows” will be on display at TAG from March 31, 2023, until April 24, 2023.
“Moments” represents insights into what the Kelley’s have valued in their life around water, Linda said.
“It is an opportunity to share the drama of this environment as well as the sometimes overlooked beauty of seemingly insignificant, common elements,” she said.
An opening reception will be held at TAG on Friday March 31, 2023, at 6pm.
The Arts Garage, which is home to the Greater Port Clinton Area Arts Council, is located in the city’s old maintenance garage at 317 W. Perry Street in Port Clinton, Ohio. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 11am until 4pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday and major holidays.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Linda credits her parent’s openness for their children’s freedom of expression, especially artistic opportunities. As children, they created pictures, painting, small construction sites, perfumes, greeting cards, posters, and unique creations like a Polaroid camera made from a soap box with drawings inside that represented ‘photographed’ subjects.
Linda was encouraged to pursue the arts in elementary school, as a teacher recommended, she took classes with Cleveland Art Institute staff at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Linda notes this is where she saw (Claude) Monet’s paintings, her first encounter with artists and light. It was an incredible opportunity, she said.
In high school, she continued to take classes that encouraged and disrupted her understanding of the arts. She studied in mediums such as traditional watercolor and oils to egg tempera and enameling on copper.
Linda then studied at The Ohio State University in education, and continued to participate in art classes whenever possible. After her undergraduate degree, she continued with gifted education and maximizing proficiencies in writing, culminating with research and a masters in quantifying skills related to literature and creative writing.
Her education culminated in a doctoral dissertation based on research with students on the impact of the integration of art, music and literary studies.
Her work continues to evolve, she said, developing as a painter now living with her husband Steve in Port Clinton.
Linda said she also feels indebted to those who have encouraged her in the arts – noting Marsha Gray Carrington, whose gallery she first hung her work in. She also credits Charles Meyer and the Sandusky Cultural Center and the Sandusky Public Arts and Culture Commission with Arin Blair.
In 2022, Linda’s work “Disrupted Darkness” was made into a vinyl mural and hung on Water Street in downtown Sandusky. The mural is based on a small oil painting of an angry Lake Erie crashing into rocks under a sky illuminated by lightning.
Steve grew up in Bucyrus, Ohio, and began to show an interest in art at an early age. He found satisfaction in making things and had a high aptitude for art.
After serving three years in the U.S. Army, Steve pursued a career in art and attended the Columbus College of Art and Design with a major in advertising design and minor in illustration. At CCAD he received numerous awards and distinctions that encouraged him to continue with a career in advertising design.
Steve worked in advertising field designing logos and other promotional material and illustration before deciding to teach art. For 15 years he taught elementary and middle school students before teaching high school art at Sandusky Central Catholic School, where he has been for four years.
He has worked in many mediums and genres from graphic design, cartooning and caricature, painting, drawing and creating three dimensional pieces.
Recently he has been focused on oil painting – working with “The Group” under the mentorship of Rick Dziak. Many of his landscape paintings are painted plein air, outdoors on location.
“The effect of painting outdoors forces me to work faster and bolder creating a much different effect that I could produce in the studio,” he said.
When walking the shores of Catawba Island, Steve finds himself intrigued by the patterns and shapes of the stones on the beach.
“The seemingly random placement of the stones and the subtle color shifts create a rhythmic pattern of shapes that have a calming effect on me,” Steve said.
He hopes to recreate that effect of the beach in his stone paintings by enhancing the colors and shadows slightly and drawing attention to the often overlooked natural composition of beauty.
Last year, Linda and Steve became resident artists at the Greater Port Clinton Area Art Council’s The Arts Garage (TAG) in Port Clinton, a group of more than 20 working artists working in the old city maintenance garage. The installation at TAG will be the couple’s first there.
Moments is “a time to reflect on the world and people around us, to appreciate life and perhaps see it in a way that increases joy and understanding,” Linda said.
“It is an opportunity to connect and grow in our concept of art and its potential impact on each one of us.”
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