Kelley Finley is an interdisciplinary artist who primarily works in sculpture, textiles, and performance. She uses labor, talismans, rituals, and locations to both examine and archive the experiences of mixed identity, immigration, racial melancholy, and the female Asian diaspora. These diasporic experiences are venerated and tenderly held within the sculptural, anthropomorphic containers she makes, creating a sacred space. Utilizing her body in often performative acts of holding these structures during fabrication, they become archives of ephemeral and private performance, reminiscent of her body or family members in various physical positions. Domestic materials like fabric, thread, and medicinal herbs actualize protection, grief, monumentalization, vulnerability, and personal shrines.
Finley’s work has been shown locally and internationally, notably at ICASF, Bass & Reiner, SF, Miller Gallery, PA, New Media Gallery, PA, Room Contemporary, Venice, ITLY, and La Fenice Gallery, HK. She received her BFA in Sculpture and B.S. in Art Ed from Kutztown University. She is a current MFA student at California College of the Arts.
Residency: February 2024 - May 2024
Art Exhibition: Friday, May 17 & Saturday, May 18 & Tuesday, May 21