Bio

A graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, Eileen Kennedy also studied at the Art Students League of New York and the Hartford Art School. She has exhibited widely including the Brooklyn Museum (NY), the Monmouth Museum (NJ), the Attleboro Arts Museum (MA), the Widener University Art Museum (PA), the Painted Bride Art Center (PA), the Salmagundi Club (NY), and the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art (WI). She received Artist Fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in 1995 for drawing and in 2022 for painting. Her work is included in the Lunar Codex Project which will send art to the moon during 2023 and 2024 missions.

During the 80s and 90s, she painted life-scale, figurative narratives in oil on canvas. In 2010, she began to explore the ancient medium of egg tempera and by 2015 she was working exclusively in that medium. When she’s not in the studio, she enjoys playing mandolin in the Celtic trio, The Kilkenny Cats. The artist lives and works in Toms River, New Jersey.

www.eileen-kennedy.com

Statement

My current work explores the intersection between humans and the natural world, both real and imagined. Working with a brush laden with egg yolk and pigment or a length of sterling silver wire, I make thousands of marks to build form, tone, and atmosphere. Through this meditative process, the narrative is revealed.

These works take months to complete and the media is fairly unforgiving, so I choose my subjects carefully and prepare well--my studio is littered with sketches and studies. Because the composition is so preordained, I give myself permission to be intuitive in my use of color. In that respect, I never really know where the paint will take me and I’m always surprised at the end. I hope you will be too.

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When did you realize you wanted to pursue art professionally?

I knew I wanted to make art my profession around age 17, when I began applying to art schools, and spending most of my spare time drawing and painting.

Whether fellow artist or friend, who has continued to inspire your work?

No matter what medium I am working in, I continue to be inspired by artists of the early Renaissance and artists of the Flemish school.

What do you enjoy exploring through your art?

I enjoy exploring the relationship between contemporary people and nature. Also, I am fascinated by patterns, both those found in nature and those created by human designers.


Looking back, what advice do you wish you could give your younger self?

I would tell myself to stop worrying about being “discovered” and just keep on making art that is authentic to my own vision and sharing it in ways that seem reasonable.


What is one thing you hope your audience walks away with after experiencing/viewing your work?

If people walk away wanting to spend more time in nature, I would feel I had connected at the most elemental level.