Biography

 

MaryKellyportrait1999_sm Mary Kelly was born in 1941 in Fort Dodgee, Iowa.  She is conceptual artist, teacher, and writer.  She studied fine art and music at the college of St. Teresa in Winona, MN.  In 1965, Kelly received her masters at the St. Pius XII Institute in Florence, Italy.  Later, she obtained a postgraduate certificate in painting at St. Martin’s School of Art in London.  While in London she worked as an artist, teacher, curator, editor, and a writer.  Her work focuses around the issue of the construction of femininity and power in Western Capitalist society.  She’s famous for critiquing the philosophical works of Jacques Lacan, Sigmund Freud, and other cultural theorists.  Unlike other artists working around the issue of femininity, Kelly avoids figurative representation and incorporates indexical signs in her explorations.  Kelly is still working as an artist and teacher today.  Her current focuses around the feminine and memory.  Currently, she is a professor of interdisciplinary studio at UCLA.