Bio

Kaelen Green was born in Marin County, California, where she spent her early childhood before moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico. A dedicated artist from a young age, Kaelen permanently lost the use of her dominant hand when a Traumatic Brain Injury left her fully paralyzed on her right side at age 10. To this day all of her artwork is created with her left hand and deeply informed by her experience with paralysis and TBI. 

She graduated from Idyllwild Arts Academy in Southern California and received her BA in Studio Art from Mills College in Oakland, California on a national scholarship from the Jack Kent Cook Foundation. In 2005, she was honored as the most outstanding graduate of Mills College with the Elizabeth J Mudd Award. She also completed a year of study in the Painting Department of the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia.

After her studies, Kaelen abandoned paint in favor of the monochromatic joys of pencil on paper and began to develop the body of work that became Illusions/Illuminations, an exhibition at Klaudia Marr Gallery in Santa Fe in 2009.

In recent years, haunted by a narrative she could not express in drawing alone, she has taken on a long project to write and illustrate a novel, Asphodel. Whether out of the book, or out of the blue, she finds there are always more drawings waiting to be made. She lives in Santa Fe.

CV

Education

  • 2003-2004 The Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia, Year of International Study in Painting Department

  • 2001-2005 Mills College, Oakland, CA, Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art

  • 1999-2001 Idyllwild Arts Academy, CA, Visual Arts Major

Exhibitions

  • 2018 The Collector's Eye, Offroad Productions, Santa Fe, NM

  • 2016 An Island Emerging: Drawings by Kaelen Green, Inpost! Artspace, Albuquerque, NM

  • 2015 Body as Shelter, Iconik, Santa Fe, NM, USA

  • 2013-2014 Face to Face: Artists' Self Portriats from the Collection of Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr, The Arkansas Arts Center Museum of Art, Little Rock, Arkansas

  • 2013 Celebracion del Arte, The Hubbard Museum of the American West, Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico

  • 2010 Quadrant Fantasy, The Center for Art of International Imaginary Realism, Saeby, DENMARK

  • 2010 Biennale Grande, The Hubbard Museum of the American West, Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico

  • 2009 Solo Exhibition: Illusions/Illuminations, Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

  • 2008 Realism Invitational, Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

  • 2005 Rhizomatic, Thesis Exhibition, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, California

  • 2004 International Exhibition, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

  • 2002 Women's Alliance Exhibition, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

  • 2001 Solo Exhibition: The Fool Diaries, Thesis Show, Idyllwild Arts Academy, California

Awards

  • 2010 Best of Show: for the drawing entitled The Yoke of Form, Biennale Grande, The Hubbard Museum of the American West, Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico, USA

  • 2005 The Elizabeth J Mudd Award for the most outstanding graduating senior, Mills College, Oakland, California, USA

  • 2005 The Wellhausen Family Award for the most outstanding art student, Mills College, Oakland, California, USA

  • 2003-2005 National Scholarship Recipient from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

  • 2001 The Richard H. MacNeal Award for the most outstanding graduating student, Idyllwild Arts Academy, California, USA

  • 2001 The Visual Arts Award for the most outstanding graduating Visual Arts Major, Idyllwild Arts Academy, California, USA

  • 2001 The Humanities Award for the most outstanding graduating student of the humanities, Idyllwild Arts Academy, California, USA

Publications

  • 2011 Imaginaire III, Contemporary Magic Realism, Published by Fantasmus-Art Books, Denmark