"I'm a fine art painter but I've had a huge career in collaborative art. I do these paintings called "Finger Smears," I sort of coined that term I guess," said a smiling Kelly Sullivan; the owner of "Kelly Sullivan Fine Art" in Lambertville, NJ. "Collaborative art", she went on to say, "Is Where hundreds of people paint on one canvas and I orchestrate them from beginning to end." 

Petite in size, Sullivan stands tall in the world of art, possibly only outdone by the 88" x 68" acrylic on canvas titled, "Rock and Roll Voodoo" which hangs above the desk of her third floor studio. This particular painting was finger smeared and signed by all of the Rolling Stones,"I've had over 80,000 people stick their fingers in paint for me over the past 20 years, including all of the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen, Harrison Ford, William Dafoe, Carol Burnett and a ton of sporting figures. I do these pieces to commemorate events all over the country." 

Living in California, Sullivan was doing what she could as an artist to keep her passion for painting and art alive as she worked towards the goal of success. "I was in my twenties and working in San Francisco,"  she said with positive reflection. "I tended bar at a place that got this catering job and I had just started doing finger smear events around the city for friends of mine. This was around the time they had started to cut funding for arts education, which I think is really a dangerous and terrible thing. So I produced this hands on arts festival and I got it sponsored by Haagen-Dazs and they gave us a ton of ice cream and hardly any money so I had to come up with a way to have all of these different studios function on ridiculously low amounts of money. I actually ran the painting studio myself and I had enough money to buy one big canvas and no brushes and that's how it started. Then I started doing it for friends of mine that produced events in the city and they were really well received, they were fun! Then I had a meeting for one event that I was doing for free and the PR director for Macy's was sitting next to me at the bar and she slid me her card and said, "Call me, I think we can do something," so the Macy's flower show in San Francisco was my first paying job. It was the first time I realized that someone would actually pay me to show up and finger paint for them (laughs)!" 

Originally from Hunterdon County New Jersey, Sullivan spent seven years on the west coast and in the process started her collaborative art empire, met her spouse, moved back east and opened up a fabulous studio; all  while realizing that success comes in various forms and that money doesn't necessarily equate with it. "Well you know, the fact that there needs to be an income attached to it is a bit of a drag sometimes. Making money is not my end goal, it's just a fact of reality. If I want dinner and I want healthcare and I want stability, then money has to be part of the equation. The end goal is the same as the current goal, it's to live an inspired life and to create a better environment for myself and the people that I love and I use art as a vehicle to do that."

One of the avenues that she's using to create the "Better environment" through art is a project called, "Mighty Fingers Facing Change," which she has begun to take international. "I'm working on taking it around the world," she explained. "We work through existing organizations and all the girls do a piece of art about themselves that they keep and then they all participate in one canvas that goes from place to place to place. Then in each location, the girls all create a piece of art like a post card or something that we take to the next location. I had a stack of cards from Uganda that we took to the girls in India, then the girls in India made a stack of cards that we'll take to the girls wherever we go next which may likely be Australia or South America." 

Not only is art the motivation but community outreach also comes into play when she travels abroad. "When we went to India and Uganda, it was a little more robust of a project. We were there for a couple of weeks and we incorporated writing, in Uganda we incorporated a writing program into it, a sewing program into it, we actually started the art department there so we had enough supplies for this brand new school that we helped finish building. We built desks, we actually taught some basics of art and then when we went to India we were in two different locations. We built a permanent art room at an orphanage so that the girls had access to it moving forward. There was a budget committed to it to make sure that it stayed funded and then we worked with country girls and village girls way up north and did a similar project with them." 

"Collaborative art is powerful and the way that I create it I think is fun," she stated in confident tones. "People remember it and it means something and then when the piece winds up as a piece of permanent art..." 

Then as her voice trailed off, she turned her attention to a curious shopper and upon returning, stated the wonder of art as it relates to one's individual tastes and personalities. "Most people that come in here don't even realize what they're walking into," she said with a laugh. "They wander upstairs and they're like, "Wow," so I think, honestly, most people that come to a place like this, that are willing to wander around in a place like this; they want to find something. They're looking for a little piece of magic or something special or something unique and out of the ordinary that they're not going to find at Target or someplace like that. I think the people that shop in this type of place have a unique sense of design and curiosity to begin with. Those that actually make it up to the third floor, the hearty ones have a unique sense of design and curiosity and most of them love it." 

Sullivan has an eye towards technology as well and is currently developing and testing a web application which simulates a blank white canvas on which a collaborative of people can add their personal touches and much like the physical canvas, they can paint in the virtual world either alone or as part of the collaborative. "You can start a painting simultaneously here and all over the world. You can launch a public project and anybody that has access to the internet can log onto it and join in. This is gonna be crazy cool! We want this to be a free application. We want people to be able to use it and spread art and do more art together, it has a very calming effect when you sit there and touch it and you see the marks. It is calming and fun and it can be done with five people or with 5,000 people or you can just pick a template and do it all by yourself. This has a whole lot of potential and a lot of uses in a lot of different segments like non-profits, school institutions, or corporations, or families. Art really is a universal language so we are not limited by trying to fit it into some segment of humanity. We want it to be free for the most part but it costs money to maintain so we'll be looking for sponsors along with an upgraded version to come later and we plan on getting artists to contribute the templates and they'll benefit from that as well." 

Sullivan is not your typical fine artist as one can tell from her diverse background. When asked what she feels separates her from the rest of the pack, her answer was quick and poignant. "Funny thing about being in the creative field is that it's totally unique to the individual. Anybody that leads this creative life and chooses to make a career out of the arts finds their way in a lot of different ways and just because you have success one day doesn't mean that you'll have success the next day. Somebody said to me, "Oh you're really talented" and I thought to myself, I'm not talented I'm tenacious; tenacity is the talent. The work just develops if you continue to practice it and do it. The work just gets better and better and better, it's just the way it goes. So the ability to work and continue to practice is what the talent is. There is as much time spent on the back end of the business to maintain this career as time spent at my easel and I need to balance both to make it work." 

Sullivan has made it work very well for her despite not always having the total backing of worried parents and family members who, like any other, only want the best for their children. Sullivan laughs a bit now when she looks back at her father in particular as she was still developing her talents and formulating her passion for art. "My dad was worried that I was going to be living in a refrigerator box on the streets of New York City if I kept up this art foolishness," she explained with a hearty laugh. "Now? Now I'm their daughter the artist (laughs). I wouldn't trade it for anything and I'm happy I've stuck with it all of these years. I'm happy that I was tenacious enough to stick with it. I feel like I've gotten to a point where I've studied enough where I have creative freedom to push colors and compositions in different directions. It's gotten to the point where it's more fun for me now. I don't have to worry about whether it pops or the colors go together, I'm definitely having more fun with it." 

The Kelly Sullivan Fine Art Studio/Gallery is located at 28 N. Union Street on the third floor of "The People's Store" in Lambertville, NJ and to find out more about Kelly, Finger Smears and all that she has to offer in the world of art; please visit www.thebabblingbrush.com. 

That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!

 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Renaissance Quartet Brings Bold Innovation and Classical Mastery to McCarter Theatre on Thursday

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Prepare to be captivated by the Renaissance Quartet, featuring violinists Randall Goosby and Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass. Graduates of the Juilliard School and mentored by the legendary Itzhak Perlman, the Quartet brings a unique blend of classical mastery and innovative flair to McCarter Theatre on Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 7:30pm. Known for reimagining chamber music traditions, this New York based ensemble combines technical excellence with a bold, forward-thinking approach that appeals to a diverse audience.

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State Theatre New Jersey presents Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue with support from New Breed Brass Band