Kelly Sullivan (painter)

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Kelly Sullivan (born April 30, 1964) is an American painter known for her collaborative paintings called "Finger Smears." [1] [2] Sullivan combines Finger Smears with the signatures of hundreds of people on one canvas to commemorate events. [3]

Sullivan was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her maternal grandmother, Alice Foster, taught her to paint at an early age. Her studio was formerly in Driggs, Idaho, [3] [4] but is currently in Lambertville, NJ. [5]

Sullivan estimates that over 100,000 people across the United States have contributed to FingerSmears, including The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen, [1] [2] among others. Sullivan's work with FingerSmears has reportedly raised over $150,000 for charities. [4] Her FingerSmear entitled "The Hands for Hope" was auctioned off to benefit the September 11th Fund. [6]

Sullivan has developed two spin-off projects from her FingerSmears: Mighty Fingers Facing Change (MFFC) and Paint.Team. [7] [8] MFFC is a two-part art project designed to engage and inspire girls through a guided self-portrait. This portrait expresses their individual goals and the changes they would like to see in the world, as well as allowing them to participate in a collaborative FingerSmear called "Abundance." [7] Sullivan has taken MFFC to Guatemala, Uganda, Haiti, India, China, and the US. [7] Paint.Team was launched as a web-based tool, a "digital FingerSmear" app, that allows thousands to participate in one piece of art from anywhere in the world using their computers or smartphones. Sullivan enlisted a team of software and web developers to make this app available. [8]

References

  1. 1 2 DeMasters, Karen (23 December 2001). "Coming Around Again in Asbury Park". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012.
  2. 1 2 Carabeo, Jan (May 31, 2018), "New Jersey Artist Is Transforming Finger-Friendly Art Into Collaborative Digital Creations", CBS Philly, retrieved May 29, 2019
  3. 1 2 Strong, Hope (May 20, 2009). "A canvas that lets everyone leave their mark". ValleyCitizen. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Kelly Sullivan", Saatchi Art, retrieved May 29, 2019
  5. ↑ "Kelly Sullivan - Page - Artist Biography". thebabblingbrush.com. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  6. ↑ Roberts, Christine (24 October 2012). "New Jersey artist Kelly Sullivan to host finger-painting fundraiser for 'Mighty Fingers Facing Change Project' in SoHo Thursday". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  7. 1 2 3 Coulibaly, Kathryn (April 2018). "Empowering students through art". NJEA Review.
  8. 1 2 "Lambertville Artist Kelly Sullivan Offers a New Way to Access the Power of Art". NewJerseyStage.com. 2020-01-27. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
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