Private: Kelly O’Neill

Kelly O’Neill is a sculptural installation, mixed media, and textile artist who lives in Selwyn, ON. Working with assemblage and text, video and projection, and incorporating traditional textile methods with unconventional materials, O’Neill creates objects and experiences that explore the fluidity and impermeability of embodied experience.

After completing an Honours BA in Philosophy and English Literature at Trent University in Peterborough, ON, Kelly worked as a Social Worker before starting a family and staying home to raise her 4 children. Having had an art practice throughout her life that often came second to other responsibilities, she eventually returned to school full-time and completed her BFA in Sculpture and Installation at OCAD University in 2018.

Community building as creative expression is important to Kelly’s practice and has led to her involvement in art projects at The Mount Community Center, the Peterborough Regional Health Centre, as well as membership in collectives such as Essential Relations and The Cloth Care Collective.

Her work has been shown in galleries in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia including: the J.B. Arid Gallery (Toronto), the Pendulum Gallery (Vancouver), the WKP Kennedy Gallery (North Bay), Art Mur (Montreal), and the Art Gallery of Peterborough.