"Birth of a Woman " by Teddy Kell

March 4 through 24
Teddy Kell
A Gathering of Images

Sunday, March 9
Meet the Artist
6:00PM to 8:00PM
Teddy Kell will give a talk about her art in the Main Gallery.

Sunday, March 16
Artist Reception
2:00PM to 4:00PM

Teddy Kell will be exhibiting framed pages from her portfolio book “…but earth abides”, other new digital paintings, original drawings and paintings, and many prints. A prolific artist, Kell is pleased to be able to hang enough work together to give viewers an idea of the themes and ideas she pursues.

An unusual component of the Center exhibit will be the opportunity, for the first time in Nevada County, for viewing The Millennium Book. In 2003 Kell was one of twelve Lead Artists invited to participate in The Millennium Book project. This portfolio book consists of twelve separate, unbound books in a variety of media, and housed in archival boxes. Of the edition of eighteen, five copies of the Book were distributed to selected libraries, universities, and museums on five continents, including Alexandria, Egypt, Shanti Nekaton, Bengal Province, India; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Manila, the Phillipines; and El Salvador, Central America. One copy, in a specially designed glass box, will be consigned to the Pacific Ocean to drift…and be found?

"Spirit of Pyramid Lake " by Teddy Kell

Each Lead Artist received a copy, and two of those have been donated to the California State Library and the U.S. Library of Congress. Kell’s copy will be on exhibit for the first time in Nevada County on March 9th, when she will speak at the Center for the Arts, and also by appointment during the exhibit.

In time for this exhibit Kell has reprinted her portion of the Millennium Book, with the title “…but earth abides”. The new edition will be available for collectors in cloth bound portfolios made by L.J. Dillon of Stalwart Press who made the box for the State Library copy, and also Kell’s copy.

Teddy Kell’s previous local solo shows have included the Nevada Arts Council Microgallery in Nevada City in 1987 and 1991, and The Center for the Arts in Grass Valley in 2001. She has exhibited her work in over twenty five invitational and juried shows in Northern California. Her work has also been shown in Oregon, New Mexico, and Texas; the result, she says, of having lived a peripatetic life until she managed to settle down in Nevada County in 1965. She is known locally in recent years for being a co-founder of the Nevada County Altar Show, now in its eleventh year; as well as for ceremonial gatherings and workshops on her Rough and Ready property.

Her studio in Rough and Ready is open by appointment.

Artist Statement:

I was born in 1928 and lived in many, many houses in many towns in Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada before I left what was then San Francisco State College to start teaching in Mono County, California.

I married an engineer and we continued moving in the same pattern while having three babies. California to Texas to Oregon back to California, to Albuquerque… and then I moved to Nevada County with my three children.

As an only child I had always said I wanted to stay in one place and have a tribe of my own. I’ve lived and worked in Nevada County since 1965, more than half my life now and I have not only my family tribe ( three adult children and their spouses, six grandchildren aged thirteen to thirty, and three great-grandsons, all living in the County, but other equally dear tribes of friends.

My life as an artist is the thread which has run through all my existence; something I was serious about from the time I was nine or ten.

With all the house-moving, child-raising, school-teaching, land-reclamation and gardening, I still continued drawing and painting, participating in shows, selling enough to be encouraged. I continued my art education at the University of California at Davis and Berkeley, and at Sacramento State.

During my teaching years I managed one major painting every Easter vacation and one in August just before school started, which meant that I was never able to pursue any particular theme satisfactorily. Since I have retired it is heaven to be free to continue to work on whatever question is in my mind and itching to get out my fingers.