Lee Kelly (May 24, 1932 – March 28, 2022) was an American sculptor who has more than 30 sculptures on display between
Eugene, Oregon, and
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
.
Kelly has been called "Oregon's sculptor".
[
]
Personal life
Born in rural McCall in central Idaho, Kelly was raised near Riggins, Idaho
Riggins is a city in the western United States in Idaho County, Idaho. Nestled deep in a canyon at the confluence of the Salmon and Little Salmon rivers in west central Idaho, it is approximately north of Boise, and south-southeast of Lewisto ...
.Portland State University
Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decad ...
. From 1951 to 1955, he was in the United States Air Force Reserve
The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commis ...
s at Portland Air Force Base, including service on active duty.[Sutinen, Paul]
"Sculptor Lee Kelly: Pointing toward Asia"
''Oregon Artswatch website'', June 1, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2021. He married Jeanette Bernhardt.[ During the late 1950s he attended ]Pacific Northwest College of Art
The Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is an art school of Willamette University and is located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1909, the art school grants Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and graduate degrees including the Master of Fine ...
in Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
.[ From 1967 to 1971, he taught at Mt. Angel College, Mt. Angel, Oregon. Bernhardt and Kelly had one daughter Kassandra, and Bernhardt died in 1960 of cancer before Kassandra turned one.][
In 1961, Kelly married ]Bonnie Bronson
Bonnie Bronson (1940–1990) was an American painter and sculptor and one of Portland, Oregon's most prominent artists during the 1970s–1980s. Randal Davis said that her work showed "an abiding love for the sheer beauty of materials and a fasci ...
, and in 1963 they bought a dairy farm near Oregon City, where as of 2010 Kelly still lived.[ Kelly and Bronson had a son, Jason, who died in 1978 of ]leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
, while Bronson died climbing Mount Adams with Kelly in 1990.[ Kelly died at his home in Clackamas County on March 28, 2022.]
See also
* List of works by Lee Kelly
References
External links
*
Lee Kelly
at Elizabeth Leach Gallery
The Elizabeth Leach Gallery is a contemporary art art gallery, gallery in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District, Portland, Oregon, Pearl District that specializes in artists from the Pacific Northwest, although Leach shows other artists. It was establ ...
Metal Sculptor Lee Kelly
'' Oregon Art Beat'', Oregon Public Broadcasting (2007)
Exploring The World Of Oregon Sculptor Lee Kelly
Oregon Public Broadcasting (2017)
Oral history interview with Lee Kelly, 1987 August 18
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Lee
1932 births
2022 deaths
20th-century American sculptors
21st-century American sculptors
American male sculptors
American contemporary artists
Artists from Idaho
Military personnel from Idaho
Military personnel from Oregon
Pacific Northwest College of Art alumni
People from Oregon City, Oregon
People from McCall, Idaho
Portland State University alumni
Roosevelt High School (Oregon) alumni
Sculptors from Oregon
United States Air Force airmen
United States Air Force reservists
20th-century American male artists