William Kelly (artist)


William Joseph Kelly is an American artist, humanist and human-rights advocate.

Education

William Kelly was born in Buffalo, New York in 1943, and received his artistic training at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the National Gallery School in Melbourne, Victoria, his country of part-time residence since 1968. He is also a Fulbright Fellow for which he studied at Prahran College of Advanced Education

Artist and writer

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.
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.
Kelly's artworks are reproduced in publications worldwide and are represented in over 40 public and corporate collections.

Educator

Kelly was Dean of the Victorian College of the Arts following Lenton Parr. 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. He currently lives and works in Nathalia in regional Victoria, where in 2010 he established the , 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.

Awards

For his role as an international artist, humanist, human rights advocate, and founder of the Archive of Humanist Art , Kelly received the Courage of Conscience Award from The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts .
He was recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia . He is Founding and Honorary Life Member of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Founding Member of the Urban Design Forum, and former member of the Board of the Australian Print Workshop.