“During the lockdown in the Sprint of 2020, I began to experiment with digital collaging, a new direction for me,” Kelly said. “Two years later, I continue to incorporate this technique into my work. The focus of the show is the winter landscape. The images range from straightforward nature scenes to collages, often blending fantasy and reality.”

For Ruth Kelly, making art is a deeply personal process. “At its essence, I’m using the camera to bring to light not only the subject of the image, but something of myself. Unsurprisingly, I feel my background in psychology has influenced my work as a photographer.”

About Ruth Kelly

Ruth Kelly is originally from Washington, DC, and picked up photography during a high school class. Later, at Oberlin College, Kelly switched majors back and forth between psychology and art, but eventually completed degrees in both. Since then, Kelly has worked in the social service field in California and New York, and moved to Indianapolis in 2014, via Bloomington, Indiana. Along with her membership at the Full Circle Nine Gallery, Ruth Kelly has exhibited her work in different venues around Bloomington and Indianapolis, including the Ivy Tech Waldron Art Center, the Anderson Art Museum, and the Garfield Park Art Center.

“Originally, I saw this exhibit as a collection of collages, but the landscape around me of late Fall and early Winter drew me in with its subdued colors but stark contrasts of light and dark,” Kelly said, of the origins of “Winter Solstice.” “As I went out into the woods with my camera, I was fascinated by the mysterious and quiet beauty, the sense of something hidden under the dried up leaves and empty tree limbs. It’s this sense of quiet and hints of the unknown that I’m hoping to convey here.”

About the Full Circle Nine Gallery

The Full Circle Nine Gallery operates as an artist cooperative gallery, with each of the member artists and the board dividing gallery duties and artists roles. The artists will work together to help each other advance in skill and practice, as well as to bring success to the gallery. With over two dozen artists occupying a large, three-room space of the more factory-reminiscent portion of the Circle City Industrial Complex, Full Circle Nine offers a wide variety of art forms, media, and approaches.

The gallery has resumed weekend hours, 12-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Full Circle Nine Gallery is located at 1125 Brookside Ave., Indianapolis, IN, 46202, in the South Studios section of the Circle City Industrial Complex. For more information, or for artists interested in joining the Full Circle Nine, please visit www.fullcirclenine.com

Attached image: Millenium Grove by Ruth Kelly