top of page

JASON G. KELTY

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

- I do not like quietly, cleanly and controllably working alone in my Shepherdsville

studio. I prefer working loudly in and with a community, organically growing together,

discovering our art and selves as we grow together. I prefer to do life and art

together.

- It is my duty as an art teacher to share my experiences and skills leading collaborators

to discover their own impulses and creative abilities. It is my duty as an artist to choose

and illustrate my most important life experiences—the well-learned lessons—to the

best of my ability. I have such a creative impulse to work within a community.

- When I create art, I create as a teacher, instructing my audience in processes,

creative thoughts, and community-minded conclusions an art teacher

can possess. When I teach, I instruct as an artist, teaching my students the

processes, creative thoughts, and community-minded conclusions an artist can

possess.

- Out of this duality, I find a consistent collaborative mindset. My art is not separate

from my teaching, my teaching is not separate from my art. And never is my teaching

or art separate from the community in which I find myself.

- While the majority of my creative processes result in a beautiful object, a sculpture of

immense proportions and great presence, it is the presence of a collaborative audience

by my side I find most rewarding, most beautiful.

- Considering my artistic process, I am inspired to create artwork within a community,

about that community. The shared vision for what original, beautiful sculpture

may occur in the next community site is what entices and fortifies me. Not knowing how

we may grow ideas and form art, we must trust each other to lean on and learn from

each other. We will be and make something beautiful.

bottom of page