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Paul Kelly, the sixth eldest of 16 children, was born in 1947 in Peterborough, Ontario as Michael Paul Kelly. He was raised near Rice Lake, Ontario.

In 1964, he moved to Toronto, Ontario where he earned an Art Diploma from Art Centre, Central Technical School from 1964 to 1967. From 1967 to 1968, he worked as a Graphic Designer for Hunter Templeton Studio in Don Mills, Toronto. That summer and fall, he worked as a Graphic Designer for Marshall, Macklin, Monaghan Architects Ltd. in Don Mills. He moved to England in 1968, where he earned an Associate Diploma in Art and Design from the Art and Design Department of the Bolton College of Art and Design, in Bolton, Lancashire (Greater Manchester) from 1968 to 1971. In 1970, he moved to Brantford, Ontario, where he worked as a graphic designer for Gould Outdoor Advertising from 1970 to 1971. He returned to England in 1971 for one year. In 1972, he was a graphic designer in the creative design department of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Canada in Toronto. He moved to Ottawa in 1972, where he was a graphic designer for the Art Department of Bell-Northern Research from 1972 to 1973 and a graphic designer for Corporate Image Graphics in the department of graphic arts at the National Defense Headquarters from 1973 to 1974. In 1974, he moved to Windsor, Ontario, where he was a graphic designer in the Media Centre and Communication Studies at the University of Windsor from 1974 to 1976.

In 1975, he married Susan Cooke, with whom he has two children.

From 1975 to 1977, he commuted daily from Windsor to Detroit, Michigan, where he earned a Master of Arts in Art and Art History at Wayne State University. He moved to London, Ontario in 1977. From 1977 to 1978, he was the chief graphic designer at the Reprographics Department and University Relations at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. In 1977, he became an instructor in the Fashion Department of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson Polytechnic University) in Toronto. He moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta in 1979, where he was an instructor in the Department of Visual Communication and Drama at Medicine Hat College from 1979 to 1990. He was also chairman of the Department of Visual Communication and Drama at the college from 1980 to 1985. In the summer of 1980, he attended Summer Graduate School, Communication Design, New School for Social Research at Parsons School of Design, in New York City. From 1985 to 1989, he did a doctorate of Philosophy in art education, which is in the school of architecture at the University of Oregon, in Eugene, Oregon. He was an adjunct professor in the school of journalism at the university from 1985 to 1986. In 1990, he moved to North Bay, Ontario, where he has been a professor of fine arts and visual arts from 1991 to the present.

Solo exhibitions of his work include: Paul Kelly: Along the roads of the Cambrian Shield, Present and Past, 2004 - 2006 (Traveling exhibition, 1997-2002, from October 2004 to October 2006 at W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery, North Bay, Ontario; Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; Salle Augustin - Chenier, Ville Marie, Quebec; Timmins Museum, National Exhibition Centre, South Porcupine, Ontario; Maison de la Culture, Notre-Dame-De Grâce, Montréal, Quebec; Art Gallery of Northumberland, Victoria Hall, Cobourg, Ontario; The Campus Gallery, Georgian College, Barrie, Ontario; Parry Sound Station Gallery, Parry Sound, Ontario; Thames Art Gallery, Chatham Cultural Centre, Chatham, Ontario; Centre Cultural de Dorval Art Gallery, Montréal, Quebec; Medicine Hat Cultural Centre, Medicine Hat College, Medicine Hat, Alberta), Paul Kelly: Paintings and Drawings (1988, Joan Ferneyhough Gallery, North Bay), Visual Art + Design: Design, Drawing and Painting since 1991 (Traveling exhibition, 1996, at Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario; Temiskaming Art Gallery, Haileybury, Ontario; Museum of Northern History at the Sir Harry Oakes Chateau, Kirkland Lake, Ontario), Watercolour and Painting (1990, Cultural Centre, Medicine Hat, Alberta), Portraiture and Still Life Watercolours (1986-87, The Radish Factory, Lethbridge, Alberta), Drawing and Painting (1979, Medicine Hat College, Medicine Hat, Alberta), Oil Painting, Watercolour and Mixed Media, (1976, Howard Kerr Art Gallery, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan), Graphic Posters, 5th (1974, International Biennale, Warsaw, Poland), Graphic Design and Corporate Identity, Bolton (1971, College of Art and Design, Bolton, Lanarkshire, England), and Oil Painting and Watercolour, (1967, Bloor/Gladstone District Library, Toronto, Ontario).

Paul received a publication grant from Nipissing University (North Bay, Ontario) in 2004, a Cultural Grant from Nipissing University in 2004, a Touring Grant from the Ontario Arts Council in 2004, and Exhibition Assistance Grants from the Ontario Arts Council in 2004-2005, 2002-2003 and 1995-1996.

Paul's works are in private, public and corporate collections, including the Conestoga-Rovers Environmental Engineering (Waterloo, Ontario), Critchley Delean Trussler Evans Bertrand Architects (North Bay, Ontario), Culture Centre (City of Medicine Hat, Alberta), Great Western Life Insurance (Winnipeg, Manitoba), W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery, McLeod & Yeates Chartered Accountants (North Bay), Medicine Hat College (Medicine Hat, Alberta), Metro Toronto Catholic School Board, Nipissing University (North Bay), Northern Credit Union (North Bay), Redpath Canada (North Bay), Toronto Public Library (Toronto, Ontario), and Venasse Construction (North Bay).

He was represented by Joan Ferneyhough Gallery in North Bay, Ontario from 1996 to 1999.

(The biographical information featured here was written in consultation with the artist in 2006.)

Interview:

PAINTER'S PASSION COMES FROM WITHIN

Paul Kelly has come a long way since his very first painting--a paint-by-number. The North Bay painter has been engaged in art and design for 40 years. Nowadays, he no longer needs to paint any paint-by-number as he can create his very own paintings on oil canvases and watercolours.

His painting passion began at an early age in his life but he never had dreams of becoming an artist. "There was never a moment of wanting to be an artist," Kelly said. "It was a gradual development."

Kelly's ideas for the paintings come from concepts and skills, which develop over time. It is only once you have those concepts and skills down that you can build on the background, Kelly explained.

Kelly's process of going from an idea to completing an art piece is spontaneous. "It's done freely," Kelly said. "However, good concepts don't happen by chance but by research." The most satisfying part of what Kelly does is seeing his own work come to life.

Most of Kelly's works have stories behind them, while his motivation and passion for painting comes from within.

Every work Kelly creates instills emotion, "very much through the use of bold strokes and a strong use of colour," Kelly said.

Kelly is very much concerned and interested in incorporating patterns and shapes in his work. He also hates to see negative space on his paintings.

Kelly does struggle to get his paintings to his personal level of completion. "I am not always satisfied with my work," Kelly explained. "I don't worry much about it as some new ideas come out of it."

Kelly spends anywhere between 40 and 60 hours on an oil on canvas, while watercolour paintings can take between two to three hours to complete.

All of his paintings depict certain themes--either figurative or landscape. "It's important for me to make a social statement," Kelly expressed. All of Kelly's art is also related to design.

Kelly is so dedicated that once he begins a painting he likes to see it to its completion. He doesn't like to start and not finish a project. Once he has his heart set on something he can't put the paintbrush down or give up on it until the masterpiece is complete.

"I always try to complete a work," Kelly explained. "Maybe not the one I desired but it is an end."

International art affects Kelly's work. "Certainly Expressionism, Fauvism, and Constructivism have had an impact on my art and design for forty years," Kelly said.

(By Andrew Hopkins, based on an interview in winter, 2006).

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Paul Kelly
2006



Credits:
courtesy of Polar Studios

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Paul Kelly, Parfitt Farm: Four Mile Road, oil on canvas
2002

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Paul Kelly, featured in correspondence between Robert Dalton and the W. K. P. Kennedy Gallery
2003