She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area after graduation to work at a firm for 7 months, realizing quickly (after Day 1) that this space wouldn’t suit, & wasn’t giving her even near the soul food & satisfaction that her school experience gave her. She traded the office chair in for a position at the apple stand in front of the architecture firm, hawking apples, peaches, & blueberries for (hand-over-heart) RAINBOW ORCHARDS at the farmer’s market. She made a bunch of quirky & whimsical signs for the stand (“$1.00/pound”, “Pink Lady Apples”, etc.), & literally laughed as she made them; using a set of children’s watercolor paints & pastels, as there were no rules or bounds here, the more vibrant & genuinely full-of-life, the better. The signs quickly drew attention from the crowds, including an art rep who sold “blue chip”/museum-level paintings, whom she hoped to produce a body of work for. In the meantime, she started having art shows, showing & selling at a plethora of places around the SF Bay. She was represented by the Lyssa Morgan Gallery in Tampa, Florida, & had commissioned works by both SF local individuals & businesses. She was accepted to a Grant Fellowship/Artist-in-Residency at the Vermont Studio Center.
Contemporary Artist: Kelly Wainwright 