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The call was
irresistible. He felt it deep within his soul and in every fiber of
his being. It was a call that had lured many to their deaths but it
was in his blood and in his heritage and in his blood line. His
father had answered the call before him and now it was his turn. At
age 17, he couldn’t wait to finish school, he just had to go now, he
had to answer his call to the sea He quit high school in 11’th grade and using his
union credentials, John Kelly hired onto ships transiting the
intercostal waterway from Glacier Bay to Seattle. He had finally
made it to the sea, as his father had done so many years before
Master Artist and Seafarer John Patrick Kelly spent his
youth in shipyards, watching his Dad transform metal ribs, plates,
rivets and bulkheads into masterpieces of beauty. He watched the
magic of shipbuilding unfold before front of him while the magic in
his hands and fingers and eyes transformed the ships, rivers and
shipyards into drawings on paper for all to see, for posterity He has oft times been referred to as the “Maritime
Painter”, a title that describes much of his early work but it
barely touches the surface of his skills as an artist. He has
traveled the world capturing its beauty and mystery onto canvas
using pencil, pastels, oils and acrylic. John Patrick Kelly is just as adept at tying a “Bowl a
Bight” knot on the decks of an Alaskan Freighter as he is painting a
scene of a cable car emerging from a fog bank on Hyde Street in San
Francisco.
The story of John Kelly the seaman and John Kelly the
artist unfolds inside. Lets take a look and ask ourselves,
“Who is
John Kelly?” |
