Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Dale Boten.
Hi Kelly Dale, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started creating alone in my bedroom as a small child. Growing up without siblings forced me to find ways to entertain myself and refine my creative nature with what I had around me. I started with drawing and stuck to it all through high school when I began taking my art practice very seriously. I came to the realization with the help of friends and family, that it was what I was truly meant to do with my life. I had some incredible art teachers in high school that expanded my understanding of technique and showed me the different options I had when it came to furthering art education into university. My drawing and painting skills advanced once I began college, and I will be entering into my sixth and final year this fall. In 2020, I began freelancing more seriously after I designing my own website from the ground up. This pushed me to dabble in digital art where I found a new love for a different form of drawing and logo design. While I am always still digitally up to something, I have found my way back to my graphite and mixed media roots with the beginning stages of my thesis titled Petals and Parables.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
By no means has my artistic path been a smooth road. I have faced a lot of criticism over the years for my choice to pursue art professionally. The age-old stereotype of starving artists that have chosen to throw their life away has been thrown in my face since I was 15 years old. I have had to find acceptance in myself as an artist, and also with the opinion of others that are based on society’s preference of STEM studies. I am confident in the decisions that I have made for myself and my artistic path, and now all I have left to do is to prove those people wrong.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
At my core, I am a portrait artist that specializes in graphite drawing and watercolor painting. However, I use a wide range of mediums including the digital space, acrylic paint, and embroidery. While portraiture and florals are my favorites, I also love the graphic design that includes logo creation for companies and brands. I am most proud of my graphite portraits because it was a hurdle I overcame in high school when I really began taking my work seriously. I was always afraid to take on the challenges of drawing a human being, but once I did, everything clicked. I believe what sets me apart from others is my drive and need for perfection in my art. As someone who struggles with OCD, drawing is a great way for me to utilize it in a healthy way. People have always used the word “clean” to describe my work, and I couldn’t agree more. It is truly myself and my brain on paper.
Right now, I am working on the most important body of work that I have created thus far. My soon-to-be thesis, Petals and Parables, is a body of floral and figurative paintings brought to life by soft blooms of color and watery lines. Together, they create the texture of petals and sprigs telling the story of the person shown. I have worked in the floral industry since the age of fifteen, which has meant many crucial things to me. One of those being the importance of communicating a feeling without words, and flowers are an extraordinary way of doing this. Each bloom has its own story that begs to be told, but it can’t say anything. I’ve felt this same way through a lot of my life; having a story that I want to tell, but can’t get the words out. This is why I have created a body of work wherein each piece uses a combination of blooms, as well as people that tell a story without narrative. The flower is then placed with a face, and a story can now be told using the viewer’s human connection. This is done without language or the art of a voice, but rather the art of the eye. Each piece measuring 5×11 is then placed in groups of color, then being given the opportunity to tell a story even larger than the singular pieces alone. These stories are told, yet still give the viewer the opportunity to write their own, woven within the petals painted on the soft watercolor paper. This is a work in progress and will be completed in May of 2023.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
As I mentioned, I grew up as an only child until I met my amazing older sister when I was 16. I entertained myself with the things around me and was always creating something. I loved art more than anything and could spend hours drawing, painting, making scrapbooks out of magazine clippings, sculpting things out of cardboard, and designing bedrooms for my American Girl Dolls. I was shy and introverted, which is why I never minded the time I spent creating.
Contact Info:
- Website: kellydaleart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelly_dale_art/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kellydaleart
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kelly_dale_art
Image Credits
Ally Sturges Photography
