JOAN MARIE KELLY
About
Joan Marie Kelly is an accomplished artist, educator, and community facilitator known for using art as a bridge to connect people and address profound societal challenges. Her artistic practice includes creating and selling evocative artworks, accepting portrait commissions, and collaborating with scholars to integrate creative processes into their research initiatives.
Joan has held solo exhibitions in New York, New Delhi, Kolkata, and Fez, Morocco. Her work has also been featured in prestigious biennales, including Beijing, İzmir, Korea, Dhaka, and Casablanca, as well as in group exhibitions across New York, Connecticut, Paris, Italy, Beijing, Korea, Thailand, Algeria, Tunisia, Moscow, and Ulaanbaatar. She has presented at COP28 and COP29, contributing to critical discussions on environmental issues through an artistic lens.
Her transformative workshops, particularly those focusing on storytelling and drawing, address collective trauma among survivors of environmental disasters. She also fosters artistic engagement between communities, creating platforms for connection and dialogue where none previously existed.
From 2005 to May 2024, Joan was a distinguished faculty member at Nanyang Technological University, School of Art, Design, and Media in Singapore. In 2025, she joined Woxsen University as a Professor of Practice in Hyderabad, India. Her publication Invisible Personas (2019) showcases 52 thought-provoking artworks alongside four essays, reflecting her deep engagement with humanity and the power of visual storytelling.
Joan being interviewed at the Asian Art Biennale 2018 Dhaka, Bangladesh
Portrait Commissions
A portrait is more than an image—it’s a connection. Joan Marie Kelly’s paintings reveal the complexity and uniqueness of every subject, creating artworks that carry meaning beyond the moment. Whether honoring identity, preserving a memory, or marking a personal journey, each portrait is a hand-painted collaboration between artist and subject.
Commission a portrait that captures presence, personality, and depth. Joan Marie Kelly’s paintings go beyond likeness—they embody the essence of the individual. Begin your portrait journey today.
The process begins with an initial sitting in the subject’s home, studio, or chosen environment—wherever best reflects their presence. After one or two sessions, Joan marie completes the portrait in her studio, ensuring a piece that is both personal and timeless.
For inquiries or to commission a portrait, please contact Joan directly joanmariekellyzzz@gmail.com. Serious inquiries only.
The Love Project
The Love Project begins with the community. It cannot exist without it.
Each portrait is created through a collaborative process with Baltimore residents who want to be part of this living archive of tenderness. Participants sit for painted sketches, share stories, are photographed, and choose how they wish to be represented. The sessions are intimate and reciprocal—each person is both seen and seeing. By centering love as the pulse of this project, the public becomes both subject and co-creator.
I am currently seeking individuals, couples, families, and friends in Baltimore who would like to be painted as part of The Love Project. LGBTQ+ couples, chosen families, intergenerational pairings—all are welcome. Portraits are by commission, with sliding scale options available.
If you're interested in being painted, collaborating, or hosting a workshop in your space, get in touch at joanmariekellyzzz@gmail.com.
Il Musicita Notturno
