Colleen Kelsey is amazing. Just listing all of her activities makes me tired. In addition to making art she’s raising three kids, teaching at three local colleges, organizing pop-up gallery exhibitions under the name Kelsey Projects and founding the Dutoit Gallery, a cooperative exhibition space. 
Most recently, she’s become the Director of the Dayton Society of Artists.The DSA is hosting a Collaborative Drawing Event on Wed, April 12th from 6 – 7:30pm. This community drawing performative act involves bringing your own still-life object(s). We will be building a 
collaborative environment to draw from. Brown craft paper and charcoal will be provided but it is suggested individuals bring their own drawing materials if desired. Tables, chairs and art easels are also available. This drawing event is part of DSA’s monthly drawing program. This is free and open to the public.
Colleen is also active in groups such as the Dayton Chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and she went to the Women’s March in Washington.
I asked Colleen why she had chosen to pack so much into her life and she said “We might live just this one life so I want to make mine count. I don’t want to have regrets about things I didn’t do.” I asked about her art process.
“When I start to make art I start with a free form gesture, something organic and curvilinear. That often morphs into figures and the figures impact the space. I don’t know where it will end up. It depends on what I’ve experienced or thought about that day. The meaning and content are only discovered after I’ve finished the piece.”
“Sometimes I do have some forethought before beginning a work. I did a series called the Artist and Her Husband. Those works reference pieces by important male artists, with a switch. In my works my husband (artist Jeremy Long) wears the dress.”
