Kelli Snively

June 14, 2009

Kelli Snively: Art That’s Folksy & Fun

By Carina Hume 6/15/09

Humor is a big part of artist Kelli Snively’s life: Spill a glass of red wine on a new bride? Recreate it in a painting called Two Mad Brides. (She stepped on the other one’s dress.) Have a lovable Welsh corgi with big ears? Make him your muse for numerous paintings.
Well-known for her folksy and caricatured pieces over the last 25 years, the Levering resident brings her fun and sass to downtown Petoskey’s Mitchell Street, Thursday-Saturday each week.
With a bubblegum pink doorway leading to her upstairs studio, art-lovers should have no trouble finding their way.

ARTSY FAMILY
Born in Petoskey and raised in Good Hart, this Harbor Springs High School grad first studied photography.
“I’ve been an artist since I started out as a photographer (at 16). My dad built me a darkroom in the basement with no ventilation,” Snively says with a laugh. “I didn’t know what I was doing. But then I went to Western (Michigan University) and I majored in photography; I would just photograph and then paint on it. They weren’t your typical, nice landscapes, but still kind of my style.”
Creativity runs in her family.
“My dad was very creative; he was always making things,” remembers Snively.
Brother Kirby is a well-known musician and furniture maker.
“For years, I didn’t think I could draw, because [Kirby] can draw anything; he’s very talented that way and very talented musically, so I was afraid of it for quite a while. I had to take a painting class in college and I fought it, but once I got there it was like, ‘Oh, I can do this’; it was kind of fun.”

FOLKSY, FUN AND RECYCLED
“I can draw the model, but I’m not interested in that perfect stuff. I like the crazy, the different,” admits Snively. “I like to work with funny stuff; humor is a big thing.” She enjoys painting with oil on wood and creating whimsical pieces with rich color and texture.
Recycled cookie tins found at yard sales and antiques shops are the basis for her newest and most durable works. “I have a lot of tin in my studio up north,” she says. “I cut it up, measure it out, and make pounded and recycled pieces. I love doing it, but I’ll be working on that at home – I can’t do noisy things in here.”
While living in the Virgin Islands, Snively noticed flattened bottle caps, rusted due to the area’s saltwater, discarded on the ground. “I started collecting those; they were like coins. Then, when I went to Europe, I started saving all the cool, different caps, like the cow on the milk jug.” Arranging manipulated bottle caps on wood became one of Snively’s trademarks.
“I’m still doing the bottle caps,” she says. “I used to have the Pub save them and now people bring them and drop them off on the doorstep.”

AN ARTIST’S INSPIRATION
Inspiration for new work comes to Snively in a variety of ways: “You see funny things or just somebody reacts,” she says. “I used to paint from dreams, but I haven’t done that in awhile. I have crazy dreams!”
Years ago, living in New York City and traveling to the Virgin Islands and Europe provided inspiration. She painted agave plants in the Caribbean, and churches and architecture on recycled tin to pay the rent in Spain.
“I have a book that I write titles down in, then once in awhile if I’m stuck I look in there,” Snively says.
A change of scenery in Petoskey’s downtown district is bound to inspire something new.
“I really do like to stay home and paint (in Levering), but I was getting stagnant,” she admits.
Welsh corgi Wilbur, and Snively’s cats even make appearances in some of her works.
“I read a lot of bios on artists – that keeps me going,” says Snively, who’s inspired by surrealist contemporary painter Francesco Clemente. “He was very prolific – one time he had three gallery shows at once in New York. And I like Mark Ryden from California. He makes creepy look good; I love his work.”
Reading and web-surfing helps her stay current. “I keep in touch with what other artists are doing, just so you feel like you’re in the same life.”
A dedicated artist, Snively will always have art in her life. “I think it’s just, needing to,” she says. “If I get away from it for a while I start getting anxious; it’s something I kind of have to do.”

Visit Kelli Snively at her upstairs studio in downtown Petoskey at 436 E. Mitchell St. (just up from Mitchell St. Pub) on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Her work is also available at the Michigan Artists Gallery in Suttons Bay, Gallery on Main in Bay Harbor and the Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey. For more information go to www.kellisnively.com or e-mail kellisnively@hotmail.com