Kelly Irvine

About the Artist

Kelly Irvine is an abstract painter and mixed media artist living and working in Baltimore, MD. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland where she studied graphic design and fine art. After working for over 25 years as a graphic designer while continuing to study painting, she is currently an MFA candidate at Towson University. In January 2024, Kelly mounted a solo exhibition at the NIH Clinical Center's West Gallery and in 2023 showed her paintings in a solo show at Touchstone Gallery in Washington DC. Her work has also been shown throughout the mid Atlantic region, including the Delaware Contemporary, University of Mary Washington Galleries; Maryland Art Place and Hamilton Gallery in Baltimore; Delaplaine Arts Center in Frederick MD and Yellow Barn Gallery/Glen Echo Park in Montgomery County, MD. Kelly is a 2026 Windgate University Fellow at Arrowmont School of Arts and Craft, and a 2023 recipient of Maryland State Arts Council's Grants for Artists.    

Artist's Statement

Artist statement: I believe in the power of color and art to uplift mood and evoke a sense of wonder. My work invites the viewer to step into a lush world of vibrant, transparent color. I use sheer, overlapping hues, gestural marks, repeating motifs, and 3D textile construction to create unexpected moments of delicious interaction between color planes. Inspired by the canvas staining techniques and paintings of Helen Frankenthaler and Washington Color School artists, I paint organic shapes, marks and fields of color on canvas and sheer fabric, and often combine them to make 2D and 3D constructions that flow and intersect. Hard edges and opaque canvas contrast with soft areas of color variation and sheer fabric, while surface stitching creates flowing linework within the works.