Cover Artist
ANTHONY D. KELLY freeformtrouble.com
A freelance illustrator, writer and visual arts practitioner, artist Anthony D Kelly, bases his practice in Castlebar, County Mayo located on Irelands West Coast. Not restricted to creating art, Anthony has extensive experience as a Gallery Administrator, Curator and Project Facilitator from his time at Basement Project Space an artist-led initiative which was based in Cork City, Ireland. Currently training in Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy, he uses art as an engagement tool, focussing on social, political and global development issues. We had a conversation with Anthony where he touched on various topics ranging from his current project ‘Notional Geographic’, our unhealthy relationship with anxiety and environmental conservation. Is it true that you are training to be a Psychotherapist? Could you tell us a bit more about that? Yes, for sure. I am currently training to practice as a Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapist. It is tough training and emotionally intensive, but the learning is fantastic. It is client centred, meaning that we consider the client the expert in their own lives, and they lead the process. We take elements from many different techniques and schools, including Gestalt, Art Therapy, Process Oriented Psychotherapy and Psychosynthesis, we are really learning to be there with someone through any of life’s tribulations. On a personal level, I feel that it has helped me really grow to understand myself a lot
better and my art practice has definitely benefited from that. Could you tell us a bit more about your current project ‘Notional Geographic’? The Notional Geographic Project has been gestating for quite a while now; there have been intermittent eruptions of sketches and fragments of stories coming to mind. I have bound several basic copies so far, but nothing I would deem a finished product just yet. The idea is to create transient journals of short stories, poetry and illustration; I will bind them and make small editions before dispatching them to friends in the four corners of the globe. These copies are to be left behind in coffee shops, on buses, 08
