Featured Artist

KELLY LYLES

We are pleased to feature the Rodent Series of paintings by Kelly Lyles in the July-September exhibit at the Burien Arts Gallery Wall, Highline Heritage Museum, 819 SW 152nd Street, Burien, WA.

Kelly’s family lived abroad (Switzerland, England, Denmark, and Japan) for 12 years during her childhood due to her father’s work. “I learned early on that life is a lot of fun, and I hope viewers share that in my work. My paintings are a further extension of a life filled with creative people and endless opportunities. I continue to travel the world leading art delegations, and in the U.S. cross the country as an Artcartist, participating in shows and parades of wildly decorated vehicles,” she said. Extravagantly decorated cars are another of her specialties. See Kelly in one of her  Artcars below:

“I have years of experience with a number of different styles’ and media, but all are based on representational art steeped in classical training. Whenever appropriate, I make humor as important as technique. This series is whimsical paintings of animals with ‘All-American’ household products (i.e., Spam-Ster, Mice-A-Roni, Benson & Hedgehogs, Starducks). In these, there are subliminal messages regarding mass-media, marketing, consumerism, etc., but primarily these (paintings stem from) a simple love of animals, verbiage, and the physical representation of the wordplay, scale, and juxtaposition of disparate subject matter, based on puns and alliteration.”

Kelly worked for over 15 years as a commercial artist before shifting gears to focus on her own work. Her commercial work included comps, storyboards, logos, corporate identity, catalog layouts and illustration for clothing lines. Clients included Kraft foods, Cellular One, the Mariners, Hewlett-Packard, PCC, REI, Union Bay, Eddie Bauer, and Sun sportswear, as well as smaller local companies.

She now is centered primarily on painting (oils, acrylics and watercolor) and has taught all three media as well as drawing.

Kelly’s work in public art includes decorating 13 large fiberglass sculptures (pigs, nutcrackers, bucks) for various civic associations to be sold at fund-raisers. She has created multiple pieces for both the Eastside’s P.A.C.E and the West Seattle Merchants bench projects. She has also designed and painted murals and was commissioned to paint an 11 foot portrait for Sound Transit.

Her work has been featured in 18 solo or two artist exhibits in Seattle metro area as well as one in VA 1999-2023 as well as part of 80 group exhibits all over the US 1995-2023.

In media, Kelly’s works are displayed in Harrod Blank’s  books on Artcars (Lark Press) and film, Weird Washington; Art of Deception, by Chuck Romano;  Road Show, by Ruthann Godollei;  Art Baby, by J. Jennifer Gibson Hatters; on national TV (Travel Channel, Discovery, Odyssey Network, HGTV); Canadian TV (Weird Wheels); and local TV (NW Afternoon, Evening Magazine, Art Zone, and assorted news shows) among others.

Kelly’s paintings are part of many public and private collections.

Awards include WA Arts Commission Educational Grant; ARA Award Winner (’95, ’96, ’97, ’00); Jurors Choice Award (SSCC Gallery; Curator’s Award Muscarelle Museum of Art Drawing Biennial; Phinney Center (NW Art Competition 2001); People’s Choice Award (Mercer Island Gallery 2003), Innovators Award (Johns Hopkins 2005),  4Culture Special Projects 2009; 4Culture Conductive Garboil Grant 2010; Icon (Creative Materials Award) 2016; and Cordata Gallery Ampersand Award 2023.

Kelly was a National Merit Scholar. She studied at Drake University (Des Moines, IA); Academy of Art College (San Francisco, CA); graphics at Seattle Central Community College (Seattle, WA); Gage Academy of Art (Seattle, WA); and Artist’s Trust (WA).

All works on display at the Museum are for sale by the artist