William Kelly (artist)

William Kelly (artist)

William Kelly is an American artist, humanist and human-rights advocate. He was born in Buffalo, New York and received his artistic training at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the National Gallery School in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia). He is also a Fulbright Fellow and former Dean (1975–1982) of the Victorian College of the Arts in Australia. He has delivered guest lectures at Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The New York Studio School and others in Europe, South Africa, North America, Eastern Europe, Australasia and has had his work reproduced in publications worldwide as well as being represented in over 40 public and corporate collections.

In addition to creating traditional prints, drawings and paintings, Kelly has organized and participated in collaborations in public art and theatre. Kelly promotes his humanist ideals in his art, for example; in response to a 1987 mass murder in Melbourne, Kelly spent five years on works for an installation titled "The Peace Project." "The Peace Project" was first exhibited in 1993 in both Melbourne and Boston, Massachusetts. It was the first visual art project to receive the Australian Violence Prevention Award. His work has been exhibited in over 20 countries with a current installation in Guernica, Spain and current traveling group exhibitions throughout Europe and also South Africa (representing Australia in the Dialogue Among Civilizations International Print Portfolio organized to coincide with the cultural activities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup).

Kelly authored an anthology, Violence to Nonviolence: Individual Perspectives, Communal Voices, that was published in 1994. His artwork has also appeared in other books, such as Cultures of Crime and Violence: The Australian Experience and "Women's Encounters with Violence.

In 2000 Kelly founded the Archive of Humanist Art, which highlights prints and drawings of artists from all over the world that address humanist concerns. Kelly is acknowledged for the contribution his work makes to the areas of human rights, social justice and reconciliation both nationally and internationally – with projects linked to the Basque Country, Spain; Robben Island, site of the notorious prison that once held Nelson Mandela; the Republic of Georgia and Northern Ireland.

He currently has studios in Melbourne and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He lives and works in Nathalia in regional Victoria, where in 2010 he established the G.R.A.I.N. Store (Growing Rural Art in Nathalia), a not-for-profit rural arts centre with a regular schedule of exhibitions, performances and workshops by visiting, local and indigenous emerging and established creative artists.