Colleen Kiely
Painting / Drawing
location : 20 Vernon Street, 5th floor, #61
email : kielystudio@gmail.com
2019, acrylic on wood panel, 40 x 30 inches
2019, oil & acrylic on wood panel, 40 x 30 inches
2019, acrylic on canvas, 14 x 11 inches
2019, acrylic on canvas, 14 x 11 inches
click an image to start the slide show
statement
These are fictional portraits, collectively titled Women on the Verge. The title references Pedro Almodovar's 1988 film, and the director's exploration of identity and striking use of color. Initially looking back to art history for women who worked as models for iconic painters, but remained unknown themselves, the portraits are now based on imagination and invention. I seek to animate these women, giving them agency and placing them squarely in the present to face the world.
bio
When I was nine years old, pneumonia kept me out of school for a month and my mother gave me paint-by-number kits to keep me busy. That’s how I fell in love with painting. Discovering that colors and paints create worlds was magical to me, and that has never changed.
Colleen Kiely was born in Providence, RI and maintains a studio in Somerville, MA. She earned her B.F.A. in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design and an M.F.A. in Painting from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She is a full Professor of Art at Simmons University in Boston.
Kiely's work can also be viewed at www.instagram.com/kielystudio and www.colleenkiely.com.
one-person exhibitions
2016 800 Million Heartbeats, The Trustman Gallery, Simmons College, Boston, MA
2007 Vanishing Point, RISD/Works Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design,
Providence, RI
2006 The Trustman Gallery, Simmons College, Boston, MA, “Between What I See and
What I Say”
2003 Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA, "On the Road"
2002 Zg Gallery, Inc., Chicago, IL, "Devotion"
2001 The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, "glimmer"
1998 Judy Ann Goldman Fine Art, Boston, "Peepers"
selected group exhibitions
2019 AVATARS//ghosts, Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA (Curated by Christina Balch,
Giuliana Funkhouser & Krista Wright)
The Odyssey Project, University of New Hampshire Museum of Art
(upcoming FA'19)
2018 Who Saved Who, New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA
2017 Touchstones, Totems, Talismans: Animals in Contemporary Art, Brattleboro
Museum & Art Center, VT (Mara Williams, Curator)
Et Tu, Art Brute? Andrew Edlin Gallery, NY, NY
26th International Juried Exhibition, Bowery Gallery, NY, NY (Kyle Staver, Juror)
NXNE 2017, Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, Brattleboro, VT
2016 Stark Naked: Uncovering Bodies, Objects, and the Futility of Desire,
Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA (Robert Moeller, Curator)
About Face, Augusta Savage Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
(Theresa Jenoure, Curator)
Breaking the Mold, The Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA
Artist’s Choice, Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA
Postcards from the Edge, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., NY, NY
2015 FACES, Post Office Gallery, North Truro, MA
No Shake, Not Here, Montserrat Gallery, Montserrat College of Art,
Beverly, MA (Robert Moeller, Curator)
Dog Days of Summer, ArcWorks Gallery, Peabody, MA
2014 Vernon St. Studios 40th Anniversary, Somerville Museum, MA
Works on Paper, South Shore Arts Center, Cohasset, MA (Al Miner, Juror)
Placed: Inside/Out, 490 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA (Robert Moeller, Curator)
RED, Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
(Amy Sadao, Juror)
2013 Confabulation, The Trustman Gallery, Simmons College, Boston, MA
What Goes Around, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA
YARD! 20 Village Street, Somerville, MA
Artist’s Choice, Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA
2013 Artist’s Choice, Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA
2012 Annual Juried Exhibition, The Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, MA
2011 Residue - The 22nd Drawing Show, Boston Center for the Arts/Mills
Gallery, Boston, MA (Steve Holmes, Curator)
4th Annual Juried Show, Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, CA
Chain Letter, Samson Projects, Boston, MA
Simmons Collects: Celebrating Women Artists, Trustman Art Gallery, Boston, MA
2010 Inside/Out, Grossman Gallery, Boston, MA
Proof of Purchase, Samson Projects, Boston, MA
Painted Cities, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2009 The Boston Drawing Project: Ten Years, Joseph Carroll & Sons, Boston, MA
Frolic, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
2008 Drawing is a Fine Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University,
Tallahassee, FL
Artists in Residence, Sanskriti Gallery, New Delhi, India
2007 Annual Juried Exhibition, Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT
Proof of Purchase, Rhys Gallery, Boston, MA
Brickbottom Celebrates MacDowell, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA
2005 Artist’s Space, NY, NY, “Night of 1,000 Drawings”
The DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA. "Pretty/Sweet: The Sentimental
Image in Contemporary Art”
2004 The Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME, “Exquisite
Corpse Project”
Boston Center for the Arts, Mills Gallery, "The 18th Drawing Show"
2003 Zg Gallery, Inc., Chicago, IL, "As Small as Possible"
Zg Gallery, Inc., Chicago, IL, "Compendium"
The DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA. "Painting in Boston: 1950-2000"
Zg Gallery, Inc., Chicago, IL, "Gallery Artists"
Icon Contemporary Art, Brunswick, ME, "Bowdoin College Faculty Exhibition"
2001 Boston Center for the Arts, Mills Gallery, "The 17th Drawing Show”
2000 The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, "Lois Foster Exhibition of
Boston Area Artists"
ArtLink @ Sotheby's International Young Art (on-line exhibition)
1999 Richard Anderson Fine Art, NY, NY, "The Passion/Passions of Art"
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, "Collectors Collect Contemporary: 1990-99"
The Boston Athenaeum, "Front Line: Contemporary Draftsmen from New England"
The Somerville Museum, "A Survey of Local Contemporary Works", Somerville, MA
Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA, "The Edge of Vision, The Edge of Sight"
University of MA at Dartmouth, "Selections: Works by Fifteen NEFA
Fellowship Winners"
1998 The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, "Museum School Traveling Scholars 1997"
Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT, "Women in the Visual Arts Annual
Nat'l Competition"
1997 Berkshire Art Museum, MA, "Exhibition of Works on Paper"
Boston Center for the Arts, Mills Gallery, "The Drawing Show"
1996 Berkshire Art Museum, MA, "Painting & Sculpture"
Artspace, New Haven, CT, "New Work '96"
1995 Mario Diacono, Boston, "Rites of Paint"
awards
Faculty Fund for Research Grant, Simmons College, Boston, 2012
Sanskriti Foundation, Residency, New Delhi, India, 2008
President’s Fund for Excellence Grant, Simmons College, Boston, 2008
Faculty Fund for Research Grant, Simmons College, Boston, 2008
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, 2007
Second Prize - Annual Juried Exhibition, Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT
(Bill Arning, Juror), 2007
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, 2005
Mary Ingraham Bunting Fellowship, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at
Harvard University, 2000/01
Massachusetts Cultural Council/Somerville Arts Council Grant, 2000
MacDowell Colony Fellowships, 1999, 1997, 1996
New England Foundation for the Arts Painting Fellowship, 1998
School of the Museum of Fine Arts Traveling Alumni Fellowship, 1997
works on view
The Boston Drawing Project, Carroll and Sons, Boston, MA
The Viewing Program, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
selected bibliography
Art New England – Editor’s Pick (online), “Portfolio: Colleen Kiely”, May/June ‘12
McQuaid, Cate, The Boston Globe, "Drawings, drawings everywhere”, 11/2/11
Wasserman, Nadine, Metroland, “Vehicles for Fun?”, Volume 32, No. 30, July 23, 2009
Plummer, D’lynne, Art New England, "Between What I See & What I Say", June/July '06
McQuaid, Cate, The Boston Globe, "Colleen Kiely: Between What I See & What I Say”,
2/23/06
Temin, Christine, The Boston Globe, "How Sweet it is…or is it?", 2/13/05
Mogilevich, Mariana, Art New England, "Colleen Kiely: On the Road", April/May ‘04
New American Paintings: The Ninth Open Studios Northeastern Competition,
Number 50, Open Studios Press, Wellesley, MA, Juror: Rachel Lafo
Stange, Eric, Ch. 2 WGBH-TV's "Greater Boston Arts", interview, 11/27/02
Lloyd, Ann Wilson, "The New Painting," in Painting in Boston: 1950-2000, ed. R. Lafo, N. Capasso and J. Uhrhane, 197-98. Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts
Press, 2000
Unger, Miles, The Boston Globe, "Kiely's Works Offer Unnerving Mixtures", 4/20/01
McQuaid, Cate, The Boston Globe, "Colleen Kiely: Glimmer", 4/12/01
The Radcliffe Quarterly, The Radcliffe Questionnaire, Spring '01
New American Paintings: The Sixth Open Studios Northeastern Competition,
Number 32, Open Studios Press, Wellesley, MA, Juror: Jessica Morgan
Sherman, Mary, Boston Sunday Herald, "Kiely Brings a Cutting Edge to Cute", 4/15/01
McQuaid, Cate, The Boston Globe, "Artists Explore Transformation, Real & Implied",
12/00
Buskirk, Martha, Art in America, "Report from Boston: Art Around the Hub", June '99
Meyer, Joshua, Art New England, "The Edge of Vision/The Edge of Sight", April/May '99
Unger, Miles, Art New England, "Colleen Kiely at Judy Ann Goldman Fine Art ,
Feb./Mar. '99
McQuaid, Cate, The Boston Globe, "Beyond Cute", 10/22/98
selected collections
The Boston Athenaeum, MA
The Bowdoin College Museum of Art, ME
The DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Fidelity Corporation, Boston, MA
Kenneth Freed, Boston, MA
Barbara Cole Lee, Boston, MA
Olivia & John Parker, Boston, MA
Sonesta International Corporation, Boston, MA
Joan & Roger Sonnabend,Boston, MA
Donald & Jeanne Stanton, Boston, MA
education
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, M.F.A. Painting
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, B.F.A. Painting
