DVAA Member since 2022
Brian J. Kelley
Artist Website:
About:
I grew up South Philadelphia in a multi-generational, Italian home. Extended family lived in and among four houses on the same block in the 70s and 80s. My family had been purchasing those homes since their arrival from southern Italy in the early 20th century.
Today, I am a middle school teacher of just about 30 years who put making art into the backseat as I developed and grew into the teaching profession.
Most recently, my comics have appeared in Hobart: another literary journal, on the website Graphic Medicine, and in the SAW anthologies, "On What Matters" and "Echo" where my art is featured on the cover.
Mostly, my comics are self-published through "Big Chooch Diary & Memoir Comics" which can be read for free online through issuu.com. I distribute between 50-60 printed copies of Big Chooch for free to family, friends, mentors, people who come into my life, artists who inspire me...and I leave random copies out and about in the community and in the spaces I travel to...and then if someone else absolutely wants a printed copy, I have the remaining copies for sale in the Big Chooch Etsy shop.
To connect with me, you could send a nice note to P.O. Box 193, Kemblesville, PA 19347 or use bjk925 [at] gmail [dot] com.
You can also follow me on Twitter @RealBrianKelley, & Instagram @bjk925.
Artist Statement:
Milton Glaser's "drawing is thinking" resonates with me in that my skills and confidence in my hand to figure it out will always be outpaced by my imagination. I draw to think...so nothing ever feels finished. I rarely have a final thought on memories, experiences or people.
Tom Hart and the Sequential Artists Workshop (SAW) revived the artist in me as has the work of many artists creating comics that speak to me such as Summer Pierre, John Porcellino, Keiler Roberts, Emi Gennis, Glynnis Fawkes, Chester Brown...so much of their work draws out real feelings in the moment.
New mentors emerge daily....
In additional to my diary and memoir comics, I am working on a biographical comic of 1930s-1940s wrestler Maurice Tillet, The French Angel.
Exhibitions at DVAA:
