CONTACT
KelseyGrafton@BlueSkyMondays.com
FOLLOW: In:@thebigideaemporium
CREATING CONVERSATION…
As a mother and a maker, I am drawn to the concept of stewardship of home, family heritage, and the impact humans have on the world we live in.
My creative research is based on material investigation, which elicits an authentic expressive response. Mid-fire stoneware, hand-harvested earthenware clay, found objects, and borrowed textures are woven into rich conversational narratives to evoke questions, offer perspectives, and stimulate responses.
Homestead to Hometown: Time & Circumstance is a series of place-based responsive works investigating my family heritage. I spent ten days on my family homestead property, located in Colville, WA, where my great-grandparents settled in 1905 after emigrating from Germany. During this time I hand-harvested earthenware clay, pulled textures from fallen structures, and gathered artifacts left behind by my ancestors. I incorporate these elements to reinforce a sense of place and time. Each piece has deep personal meaning and is my contribution to preserving our fading family history through art. This project was sponsored in part by a grant from the Idaho Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Trees of Morrow series is an allegory for our interconnected relationship with our natural resources. Through personification, I lend a kindred voice to the trees, in hopes that we might see ourselves tied to their fate. If we fail as stewards of our collective ecosystem, we will all suffer the consequences.
The Forbidden Fruit series is an exploration of the entrapments of our contemporary lives. Collectively these works allow me to process, rethink, rebuild and redirect to better understand myself, my choices, and their consequences.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Kelsey Grafton is a multi-disciplinary artist working in diverse mediums, from ceramic, oils, acrylic, watercolor, found objects, metals, enamels, song, and sound. Ceramics and mixed media sculpture is her current media of choice and make up her most recent body of work.
Grafton is an award-winning artist and illustrator who has had broad experience as an independent freelancer working with local, national, and international clients and has worked in diverse corporate settings as an in-house graphic artist. She served five years in non-profit arts administration as the Exhibit & Programming Coordinator at Lewis-Clark State College Center for Arts & History. After earning her Master of Fine Art in 2021 from the University of Idaho’s College of Art & Architecture where she continued teaching Foundations in Art and Design as an Adjunct Professor of Art. She currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Art at Lewis-Clark State in her hometown of Lewiston, ID.
She earned her BFA in Illustration, Magna cum Laude, from Cornish College of the Arts in 2001. After spending a decade in the Seattle area she traveled the globe experiencing diverse cultures. She spent two months working in Uganda with the African Child Foundation’s Women’s Empowerment Program teaching handcrafts and developing marketing packets to secure sustainable incomes for families in need. This time in Africa inspired her use of texture to capture and hold memory in a tangible form.
She recently completed a mentorship at The Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT, with Long-term Resident, Simphiwe Mbunyuza, and is excited to start a new body of work with the knowledge and inspiration she gained through her experience at The Bray.
EXHIBITIONS
2023 Ground Truths: Fuel Loading, The Confluence Lab and The Prichard Art Gallery, Online (Invitational)
Living Matter, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID (Invitational)
Elevated Perspective, Third Street Gallery, Moscow, ID (Group Show)
1st Annual Benefit Art Auction, Moscow Contemporary, Moscow, ID (Invitational)
Downtown Artwalk, Lewiston, ID
2022 26th Annual Small Works Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID (Invitational)
Idaho Watercolor Society, Traveling Exhibition & North Region Showcase, Center for Arts & History, LC State, Lewiston, ID
Over the Line: Regional Faculty Exhibition, Center for Arts & History, LC State, Lewiston, ID
#paintpaint, Little Pink House Gallery, Genesee, ID (Invitational)
Restoration, 3rd Street Gallery, Moscow, ID (Invitational)
Beyond the Trees, Lewiston Library, Lewiston, ID (Solo Exhibition)
2021 Parallel Dimensions, Collage Artists of America, juror: John Greco, online exhibit, (National)
MFA Online Exhibition, jurors: University of Montana/Montana State University, online exhibit, (National)
Thesis Exhibition, Prichard Art Gallery, Moscow ID
Renewal, Little Pink House Gallery, Genesee, ID (Invitational)
Homestead to Hometown, The Blue Lantern Coffee House, Lewiston, ID
2020 24th Annual Small Works Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID (Invitational)
Inside/Outside, Little Pink House Gallery, Genesee, ID (Invitational)
University House, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID (Invitational)
2019 Visions, Little Pink House Gallery, Genesee, ID (Invitational)
Cosmic Goulash, Ridenbaugh Art Gallery, Moscow, ID
Seeds of Morrow, Installation & Performance, Prichard Art Gallery, Moscow, ID
Beautiful Downtown Lewiston Artwalk, The Blue Lantern, Lewiston, ID (Invitational)
Palouse Plein Air, Prichard Art Gallery, Moscow, ID
Rivers & Vines Plein Air Competition, LCSC Center for Arts & History, Lewiston, ID
Tiny Frame Show, 1912 Center, Moscow, ID
Rethink Downtown, Beautiful Downtown Lewiston, CAH, Lewiston, ID (Juried Exhibition)
2018 Tension, Ridenbaugh Art Gallery, Moscow, ID
Rivers & Vines Plein Air Competition, LCSC Center for Arts & History, Lewiston, ID
2017 Reclaim Revolution, LCSC Center for Arts & History, Lewiston, ID
Rivers & Vines Plein Air Competition, LCSC Center for Arts & History, Lewiston, ID
In the Vineyard Plein Air Competition, LCSC Center for Arts & History, Lewiston, ID
2016 Reclaim Revolution, LCSC Center for Arts & History, Lewiston, ID
2015 Lynda.com, FoldFactory.com course with Trish Whitcowski, Stepped Double Parallel
2013 Downtown Lewiston Artwalk, Studio 202, Lewiston, ID
creativeLIVE.com, live folding presentation with Trish Whitcowski, Stepped Double Parallel
Jazz in the Courtyard, Mural (20 x 10 ft.), Towne Square, Lewiston, ID
Triptychs, The Blue Lantern Coffee House, Lewiston, ID
A Show of Affection, The Blue Lantern Coffee House, Lewiston, ID
First Friday: Featured Artist, Basalt Cellars, Lewiston, ID
2012 Downtown Lewiston Artwalk, Woods Insurance, Lewiston, ID
Nature for Nurture, Mural (3 flight stairwell), St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, Lewiston, ID
Publication, Paper Folding Templates for Print Design by Trish Whitcowski (pg.43), Stepped Double Parallel
Awards
2021 Quick Funds Grant, “Home to Homestead” - Idaho Commission on the Arts
2020 Purchase Award, “Through the Rain: Moscow Farmers Market” - Palouse Plein Air, City of Moscow, Moscow, ID
Best Graduate: “Thorough Darkness” - MLK Art Competition, College of Law, University of Idaho, Moscow. ID
2011 Idaho State Rocky Awards: Silver Award: Art Direction, Illustration
2011 Eugene Hamblin Creative Excellence Awards: Best of Show: Illustration, Gold: Event Invitation
2010 Idaho State Rocky Award: Silver Award: T-Shirt Design
2010 Eugene Hamblin Creative Excellence Awards: Gold: Logo Design, Gold: Illustration, Silver: T-Shirt Design & Illustration
Education
8/2018-5/2021 MFA, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID
8/1997-5/2001 BFA, Magna cum Laude, Illustration/Design, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA
Special Projects
2023 Mentorship with Simphiwe Mbunyuza, The Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT
My Artreprenure Program, Idaho Commission on the Arts, Moscow, ID
2022 Creative Aging Pilot Program, Idaho Commission on the Arts, Lewiston Veteran’s Home, Lewiston, ID
2021. Homestead to Hometown: Time & Circumstance, Idaho Commission on the Arts, Colville WA to Lewiston, ID
2014-2019 Plein Air Competition - Event Coordinator & Facilitator, LCSC Center for Arts & History
2014-2019 Second Saturday Family Art Day, Event Coordinator & Facilitator, LCSC Center for Arts & History
2013-2015 Founder, The Creative Shop: Artist Co-op, Lewiston, ID
2012-2014 Founder, Studio 202, Shared Artist Studio, Lewiston, ID
2004 African Child Foundation, Women’s Empowerment Program, Katabo & Ndjje, Uganda, Africa
2001 Medical Mission, In partnership with Good Shephard Society, Nicaragua