Who is Gerard Kelly?
Gerard J Kelly was born in Newfoundland Labrador, Canada in 1960. He went to school in his hometown of Marystown at Marystown Central High and there was introduced to art by Ron Fredette. His aptitude for art gained him an opportunity to spend some time at Saint Micheal's Printshop and work with Don Wright. Wright recognized Gerard's talent and offered him a place in the new Fine Arts Program starting later in 1980 at The College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville. It was then known as Bay St. George Community College and was to host the first two-year Visual Arts Program in the Province. The program was headed up by renowned Artist Ray Mackie, who with Don Wright had established the program! Mr. Mackie developed the program to a very high standard and Gerard studied under several very well-known and established artists, such as Gerry Squires, and Scott Goudie.
In 1982 Gerard was accepted at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. The College at this time was at the peak of its fame as one of the best Art Schools in North America. Gerard had by this time become an accomplished draughtsman and printmaker, and it was his plan to continue in the two-dimensional arts, but fate had other plans for him.
Registration day at The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design came and went, and it did so without Gerard. That evening as registration was coming to a close, Gerard arrived at the college. He was too late to get into any of his desired courses and only had one choice left, Sculpture. With little experience, Gerard began the semester with trepidation. He had studied welding and worked for a short time as a welder when he was 17 years old and this was to pay off now. He combined his welding skills and his conceptual ideas to begin creating postmodern works that defied the traditional conceptual sculptural genre of the College at that time.
Gerard concluded the first year at the top of his class and never looked back! Under the mentoring shadow of John Greer Gerard refined his intellectual approach, learned to research his ideas, expanded his vocabulary, developed his ability to articulate, and his skills in art fabrication in a wide range of mediums!
After he graduated in 1985-86 he moved to Saint John, New Brunswick, returning to Newfoundland briefly to take part in a group show in St. John`s with his old teacher and friend, Gerry Squires, and others. He moved to Fredericton, NB. For a while and had another exhibit there, and then moved about doing much the same. He returned to Newfoundland in the 90's and developed his skills tool-chest further by doing a two-year program in Woodworking Technology. It was shortly afterward that he began work at Memorial University of Newfoundland. In 2012 Gerard completed a Master of Fine Art Degree at The University of Alberta. He returned to work at Memorial University until his early retirement and moved to Lima, Peru. He lived there with his wife and daughter until 2023 when with his family he returned to live in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Gerard has exhibited Internationally and has his art in collections all over the world. His work has been shown in Canada, the USA, England, Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, and Holland.