KELLY O’DELL
Captivated long ago by her father’s glassblowing, Kelly O’Dell was involved with glass at a young age. Kelly’s family lived in Kealakekua, Hawai’i, where her father built himself a glass studio at their home. It was 1979, at 6 years old, when she remembers her father dribbling hot glass on the concrete floor, spelling words and names for the crowd surrounding him.
Twenty years later she graduated from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in Honolulu with a BFA degree in Studio Art, with a focus in Glass. With Rick Mills as her instructor, Kelly’s experience at the University provided her the tools and knowledge to leave the islands for a much bigger world. Eager to immerse herself in the glass movement, Kelly moved to Seattle, where she assisted various artists in their studios. Here she worked and studied at Pilchuck Glass School and Pratt Fine Arts Center, and began to exhibit her work actively. She took the opportunity to work at Caleb Siemon’s glassblowing production studio for two years in Orange County, California, where she developed an appreciation for color and design. In 2003, the William Morris team welcomed Kelly aboard. She enjoyed assisting Morris during his last few years of glassmaking, and continues to work at Pilchuck Glass School during the summer and winter seasons. She currently lives on on Lopez Island with her partner Raven Skyriver and their son Wren.
Since 1998, Kelly has shared her knowledge and passion for the making of art with glass, and her list of demonstrations, lectures, and the workshops she’s led is quite long, and growing.
Kelly has exhibited her work at the Museum of Northwest Art and the Pittsburgh Glass Center. Recent group exhibitions include the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Whatcom Museum, Tacoma Museum of Glass, the Fuller Craft Museum, and The Glasmuseum Lette of Coesfeld, Germany. Collections include the Tacoma Museum of Glass Permanent Collection, the Kamm Teapot Foundation, the Washington State Art Collection, the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation, and the Glasmuseum Lette Collection.. She currently resides on Lopez Island, Washington with her husband Raven Skyriver and their son Wren.
Artists Statement: My upbringing happened in the Hawaiian Islands. I grew up on the Big Island, home of active volcanoes. Coming from a place so diverse in culture & climate, teeming with flora, fauna, and really great food, I noticed the difference as soon as I left it at 25. That difference made me feel the responsibility to honor what is lost, or extinct, not just with plants and animals, but with culture and climate too. It is fascinating and devastating that our existence has so much impact on the delicate balance of life, our own species included. Through sculpture, my work explores themes of “Memento Mori,” as well as extinction, preservation, and origin. The Ammonite, an intelligent coiled-up cephalopod, became extinct 65 Million years ago, leaving impressions in its habitat to fossilize. We learn from the past to be responsible in our future. I hope the presence of my artwork in the world could serve as a reminder, or "Memento," of this.
In my creative process, I am often inspired by a non-fiction book I’m getting into, a curious detail in nature, or a podcast about science or spirituality. That leads to research, eventually taking the time to really dive in. Most ideas make it to my sketchbook, which I keep close. I’ll return to those ideas later, after they’ve passed the test of some time. I need to be sure before I start a fresh project that I will be challenged with a new sort of problem-solving, which I really love most about making artwork. The process of glassmaking is hot, fluid, demanding, and not without help! In the glass shop, my favorite part about making artwork is working with friends. Glass is special in that it usually requires skilled teamwork, and we all sort of know the same language in the shop. Working with a team, it is possible to accomplish some pretty crazy challenges. While we help each other make artwork, we push eachother, and the limits of what glass can do. We cross paths regularly, and so we become community. We raise each other’s kids, we bbq together, we camp at the beach, we travel to faraway places together, and we gravitate to one another in socially awkward situations. I feel very lucky to be part of this vibrant community.
~Kelly O’Dell
Education
1999 BFA Degree Studio Art. Medium Focus: Glass. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu HI
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022-2023 Fired Up: Glass Today, The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
2019-2022 Chinese Whispers, curated by Erin Dickson; Glazenhuis, Belgium ; Glasmuseet Ebeltoft
2021 Glass Lifeforms 2021, The Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton MA
Fluid Formations: the Legacy of Glass in the Pacific Northwest, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham WA
Group Glass Exhibition with Pierini Gallery at the Glasmuseum Lette (Glass Museum of Coesfeld, Germany)
2019 Group Glass Exhibition (Aquisitions), Glasmuseum Lette (Glass Museum of Coesfeld, Germany)
Invitational curated by Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen and Jasen Johnsen, Schack Art Center, Everett WA
2018-2019 Solo Exhibition: All of the Suddens, Pittsburgh Glass Center, PA
2017 Solo Exhibition: transient (h)ours, MoNA Museum of Northwest Art, WA
2016 Into the Deep, Tacoma Museum of Glass, Tacoma WA
Lifeforms 2016, 171 Cedar Arts Center, Corning NY
Solo Exhibition: Endangered Species, The Glass Wheel, Norfolk, VA
2015 All Natural, Group Exhibition, curated by Kait Rhoads, Schack Art Center, WA
People’s Choice Exhibit, Pilchuck Gallery, Seattle WA
2001-2012 Pratt Fine Arts Center Auction, Seattle, WA
2007 Pratt-Pilchuck Artists, Tashiro Kaplan Building, Seattle, WA
Glass Exhibit, Northwind Arts Alliance, Port Townsend, WA
2006 Message in a Bottle Larrabee State Park, Bellingham, WA; Bay Area Glass Institute Auction, San Jose, CA
2002 Bay Area Glass Institute Auction, San Jose, CA
2000 Free Association, Serpentine Studio, Seattle, WA
1999 Passage: An Entrance to Exit University of Hawaii, Honolulu HI; Vitreous Spectacle, Gallery I’olani, Windward community College, Kaneohe, HI
1997 Glass: A Traveling Exhibition, Koa Gallery, Kapiolani Community College, and Leeward Community College Gallery, Honolulu