alternative avenues for art
Floating High Architect, photographer and entrepreneur Janice Lee Kelly BArch 75 first got inspired by balloons through Kelly + Gillis/Signs of Intelligent Life, her aptly named retail business in Newport, RI. As she began creating gravity-defying sculptures on the shores of Narragansett Bay, she became serious about developing the medium as her primary— and very personal—form of art. Kelly now runs FLOAT as a means of bringing her buoyant sculpture to celebrations and special events ranging from private parties (like the RISD Artists’ Ball) to large installations (like the one she did in 2012 for the Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center). janiceleekelly.com
Janice Lee Kelly BArch 75
Weed Abides After catching the gallery bug when he ran BrooklynFront a decade ago, Mark Shunney MFA 97 SC couldn’t resist co-founding Art Research Office (ARO) in Santa Cruz to feed his passion for finding and showing provocative new art. The collective’s debut exhibition Live Nude Eggs— a show focused on “the human ovum trade”—spawned an equally compelling follow-up last summer. Called Weed Museum, it featured the work of Artists for Weed Reform, presenting a complex commentary on contemporary marijuana culture. Shunney says it helped break stereotypes and “defy expectations of what stoner art is.” artresearchoffice.com
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Mark Shunney MFA 97 SC