Witness 30 years of prints by Bill Kelly

Hoehn Family Galleries unveils new exhibit

Jessica Mills / Arts & Culture Editor / The USD Vista

Adjunct Assistant Professor Bill Kelly has been making prints since 1971. Now, as a teacher, painter, sculptor, printmaker, writer and bookmaker, Kelly engages with a variety of mediums when creating art in both his residences of Vermont and San Diego. From Sept. 30-Dec. 9, “Witness in the Grass: 30 Years of Prints by Bill Kelly” is displayed in the Hoehn Family Galleries, located in Founders Hall and open Monday-Friday: 12-5 p.m. 

Alongside his framed prints, the gallery incorporates an illustrated catalog of art and essays that enhance Kelly’s printmaking. An essay written by author John P. Murphy explains that after staying in a barn on a 140-acre property in southeast Vermont, Kelly became a witness and subject to nature and its creatures. Depictions of his environment — birds, dandelions and grasses — are featured in many of his prints. 

“Everyone tries to make [nature] so beautiful and to me nature is really sort of a dangerous place,” Kelly said. “Most people think that to make [art] you have to make it about people. I want people to think about the possibility that all fables, all the way back in the earliest times, come from stories based on animal forms.”

Additionally, Kelly’s work is shown in numerous public and private collections in the U.S., including the Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts in San Francisco, the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, the Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis and the Toledo Art Museum in Ohio. 

USD senior Aimee Barraza enjoyed the bold colors and bird forms in pieces like “A Swarm of Witnesses.” 

“It was really interesting to see all the different aspects of birds in his work,” Barraza said.

Printmaking involves transferring images onto mediums such as paper, fabric, wood, metal and other surfaces. Kelly explained that his inspiration focuses on nature and natural forms and is derived from the original practice and processes of printmaking. 

“It’s an idea of speaking to the history of what print actually is,” Kelly said. “My inspiration is based on 2,000 years of making marks in wood and metal and so forth. I’m just adding to that vocabulary, however I can.”

Alongside his prints, many can note elements of poetry and grief. “Near the Sorrow Woods,” a drypoint and letterpress poem that includes a poem and various birds, relates to Kelly’s concept of witnessing nature while also being the subject as well. 

With 30 years’ worth of prints, both old and new work can be seen throughout the exhibit. 

“A lot of this work is re-worked, some of it’s new,” Kelly said. “I keep revising. The beauty of print-form is that it can be revised.”

USD junior Connor Frank took Printmaking with Professor Kelly over Zoom.

“I didn’t get to see much of his work during our online class,” Frank explained. “It’s really cool to see it now in a gallery.”

The gallery also features work from contemporary artists who studied under Kelly at USD. Those who are exhibited showcase Kelly’s encouragement as a teacher for each student’s artistic and creative expressions. 

Kelly notes that after 30 years of teaching, printmaking goes in and out of style. Despite this, much of the medium’s processes haven’t changed significantly in over 2,000 years. 

When visiting the exhibit, all can witness Kelly’s intentional incorporation of nature, poetry and art history in each of his prints.