Margaret Konwawennontion Kelly
Margaret Konwawennontion Kelly
Mohawk of Kahnawake
Kwe kwe! My name is Arachne Kelly and I am from Brooklyn, NY. I am the granddaughter of an iron worker who brought his family to the Brooklyn, NY to make a living and still be with them every day. My grandfather was an amazing man who taught me how to read at 5 and to appreciate my dreams, old movies, books, dance, theatre, museums, and the like.
His mother, father, grandparents, and siblings used to travel to Europe in the Wild West shows. That is a drop in the bucket of some of my history albeit ancient. In the early 70’s he moved back to Kahnawake. Two years later, I followed. Although I had moved back to NYC in the early 80’s, after my grandfather passed, I came back to keep the homestead from falling in on itself. I now reside in the home of my ancestors.
Skills? I am a doodler who always loved to dabble with art. I got my first easel when I was around 5 years old and I got toe shoes when I was around 10. Thankfully, I did not try to be a ballerina. Honestly, i was taught grammar school art of which I remember finger painting and making a heart out of sawdust, glue, and glitter. While in college, I took one art class and that is it.
I can’t say directly that my art represents my Indigenous heritage. If anything, it represents me in my skin as an Indigenous woman.
Before I end this short bio, my grandmother was amazing with creating quilts, clothes, doilies, sweaters, and blankets. She danced a mighty fine jig and she cooked the most amazing meals. My mom was a child who had a child so I was raised by my grandparents until my grandmother died. Some of my more current art is a result of the pain I felt at the loss of my mother. I find that emotion drives creation in one form or another. My sister just passed on July 25, 2020 and on that day I had created a painting called When Worlds Collide. I destroyed that painting and created something much better in its wake. That is all for now.
Workshops
Attendees are shown how to produce exact images onto cold press illustration board using graphite paper, a pencil, and an image they want to create and paint. Any picture or collage can be transferred and painted even by a beginner. The workshop can take 3 to 7 days depending on the complexity of the attendees pieces. Attendees will be responsible for using a color wheel to develop colors they don’t have in their primaries.
And/Or
Images are in the eye of the beholder if one looks. I don’t draw or paint with intent, but rather let my hand lead me. It is my belief that if you stare long enough into the seemingly nothing, you find something. There is no such thing as nothing. Using a camera, or a good set of eyes, images can be captured from the imagination and placed on media using a pencil or watercolor. I view this form of artwork as cloud watching. My intent would be to have attendees see what does not quite exist and bring it into existence. That is a raw capture.
