Born and raised in New York, Tim Kelly is an Astoria-based contemporary artist currently focusing on pattern making and geometric abstraction. Tim received his Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Visual Arts from Fordham University in 2017. Tim received the university's undergraduate Nemetscheker Award for promise and excellence in architectural design.
Tim’s art practice began in April of 2018 with a 6-month residency at AlterWork Studios in Astoria, NY. The residency concluded with a solo exhibition entitled “Halves & Holes”; the show featured a 12' x 12' crocheted installation piece along with several black and white geometric abstractions. In January of 2019, Tim was awarded a Queens Council on the Arts New Work Grant which funded a series of paintings inspired by knitting and crochet patterns. A selection from this series was featured at Vogue Knitting LIVE! in January 2020. In the summer of 2021, Tim was awarded a City Artist Corps Grant. The grant supported a site-specific mural installation at AlterWork Studios. Later that year, an extensive collection of Tim’s pattern work was on display in "Paper as Warp and Weft" at the King Manor Museum in Jamaica, Queens.
In Tim's most recent solo exhibition, the artist explored circular patterns and how they can be translated into acrylic sculptures. "Thinking in Circles" was on view at Local Project Art Space in April 2023 and featured fourteen collaged patterns and their sculptural counterparts.
From 2022-2023, Tim served as the gallery manager at Local Project Art Space in LIC, NY. Tim is currently the studio manager at AlterWork Studios and continues to explore how patterns can be expressed through paper collage, acrylic painting, and sculpture.
If you are interested in viewing Tim's graphic design and illustration work, please visit timothykellydesign.myportfolio.com.
