Kelli lives and paints in historic Murray Hill, Florida, just beyond downtown Jacksonville. She, like her art, is enigmatic and mysterious, for her work and life are informed by what appear to be contradictions.

She grew up surrounded by a big family in a small town in the deep south; her demure southern congeniality often at odds with her sharp tongue, her passion and sexuality clashing with expectations, her gypsy soul refusing to be contained.

During her childhood she was inspired and encouraged by a working artist, a bohemian lady who reveled in non-conformity in a part of the country where guns, conservatism, and a facade of kindness form a religion all its own. This artist helped Kelli open her eyes to a world beyond the majestic  live-oak trees draped with  Spanish moss and suffocating heat and rules, to envision future where life is not necessarily lived best between the lines.

Still, Kelli tried to fit in, and attempted to meet the expectations given to her rather than the ones she had given herself; she married young, and gave birth to two beautiful daughters, locking away that part of her which earlier had meant everything, because in that town, that’s what you do. The logical choice, the white-picket fence, the innate repression of living in an illusion proved too much to bear, and that marriage ended.

For several years she was single in a small town, and that proved to be a time of growth and great challenges, for whispers followed her, rumors spread, and there seemed to be not enough oxygen. She found herself gasping for breath, chafing at the bonds, raging at the pettiness, the judgement, the lies.

She met her then husband, the novelist & musician Sean T. Smith, in Nashville, and following a whirlwind romance, they moved to Jacksonville, where, though she was free of those small minds back home, more struggle awaited her. She bore two sons, and during the next decade turned to painting as a creative outlet, rediscovering pieces of her she’d once believed lost. She needed to paint, finding she could not exist properly without it. Pain and joy lived in those years, with darkness in constant battle with light, threatening to extinguish her, consumer her. Her artistic style grew out of this conflict, the artist and the novelist living under one roof, at times in love and supporting one another, and other times defeated by demons. inevitably the demons won, and they divorced.

In 2015 she was found on Instagram by Pulitzer Prize winning art critic Jerry Saltz and has since put a tremendous focus on her art and art career with his mentorship.

In the past decade she has done multiple shows including a Solo show at Karpeles Manuscript Library.  She also wrote the script and designed the set for her own one woman show, Nurturing the Surreal, directed by Barbara Colaciello and performed at Babs Lab .  In 2024 she took the stage at The Florida Theater for the Summer Themed Untold Stories, with her story, Summer Mother.

She has been on multiple podcasts and in various publications.  Her work has been praised by critics such as Roberta Smith former co-critic of the NYT, art advisors and gallerists alike as well as numerous amazing artists.

​

Kelli has emerged, finding herself, her voice, her passion, and something to call her own. She has been refined, distilled, and there is a certain fierceness in her art and outlook now, a newfound sense of harmony and peace and hope in her soul. Rather than being defined by others and accepting the boundaries imposed by others, she has created a life which suits her, one of color, light, defiance and joy. For while she spent much of her life searching for a place where she belonged, she has found it within at last.

 

Kelli is the mother of four and grandmother to two