top of page

Colleen E. Kennedy M.F.A

An visual artist who currently lives in Florence, South Carolina.

The artworks created mirror the natural world I have encountered during my adventures. Thus using a combination of earthy materials, including river silt and farmed cotton of the South, locally recovered earth, fabrics, materials, and found objects collected from ventures into the swamps to tie the work back to the earth and environment of my inspiration.

As we move through our ‘homes’ or places we call as such, sometimes these imprints  that we leave behind can be damaging on the environment or the people we encounter; with good, bad, or indifferent intentions. When one wanders, we find ourselves home, and we find wholesomeness and honesty in the nature of our community that we create. One feels deep connections not only with nature, but with the people and animalia that we come across, affecting one another to harbor roots, nurturing our ‘homes’. While traversing through the wilds, I feel as though my shoes melt into the ground and I dissolve like dust into the environment around me. The vividness of life and sense of ‘home’ develops stronger when surrounded by the quiet, purposeful rustle of nature or the stillness of a vibrant city at night. It is in those fleeting moments that you are reminded not just of your impact on the world, but of your mortality and the thin veil of the imaginary. Everything is connected and I wish to explore both the personal, emotional, and cultural imprints we make upon our local and international environments, as well as the often invisible and fragile connections that exist between man and environments, thus affecting our individual sense of ‘place’, ‘origin’, and ‘belonging’ within the world...

Education 

2009 - 2015

Francis Marion University (FMU) BS Art Education

2019 - 2021

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) MFA in Painting

Awards  / Commissions

2016

Professional artist Commission Awarded. Created/painted a southern-themed mural for Straw-Hat Distillery, Florence, South Carolina

2014

2012

Graphic Design commission. Designed Logo and letterhead for national afterschool program, Performing Arts and Sciences Academy (PASA) located in Lake City, South Carolina

Art Trail Gallery - Visualicious, Emerging Artist Recognition

2012

Francis Marion University Art Student Scholarship recipient

Publications

2014

Art/illustrations Published Francis Marion University Snow Island Review

2012

Published Author Francis Marion University  Snow Island Review

Exhibitions 

Solo

2015

Francis Marion University – Florence, South Carolina

Group

2021

2013

2011

'Rhizome' Exhibition - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Gallery

Art Trail Gallery – Florence, South Carolina

Art Trail Gallery – Florence, South Carolina

Contact...

Thanks for sending me a message! Have a great day! :)

bottom of page