Sharon Kelly

Sharon Kelly lives and works between Co Armagh and Belfast. She graduated in Fine Art in 1986, and obtained a MA Fine Art in 1989. She has exhibited nationally and internationally since the early1990s, including in Europe, USA, and Canada. Her work is held in private collections in Ireland, UK, Italy,  France, Holland and public collections including Print Collection, Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium, The Permanent Collection of the Ballinglen Museum of Art, Ballycastle, Co Mayo, National Museums Northern Ireland Collection.

Kelly is a member of the Royal Ulster Academy. She is the recipient of many prestigious awards including The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, USA, 2022; the Arts Council of Northern Ireland International Development Fund Award, 2022. In November 2023, she was awarded the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Major Individual Award, in recognition of her contribution to the arts.

'My practice mediates between memory, experience and imagination, working across 2 and 3D processes. I am concerned with the body; with marking and mapping both the physical and psychological, exploring themes of fragility, resilience, liminality and transformation. Inspirations come from diverse sources such as anatomy, medicine, dressmaking and sport. Ideas develop that intertwine drawing, painting, print, sculpture as part of the creative process, working intuitively, and driven by instinct and feeling.' Sharon Kelly