* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Self-taught paper artist Kelly Joy Ladd grew up in Orlando, Florida. Although she has never been formally trained in the arts, throughout her life, Kelly has always created art in one form or another. Kelly is often surrounded by scraps of paper while she carefully constructs them into intricate patterns that she often visualizes during meditation and yoga. She is inspired by rhythmic repetition, texture and pops of color. Creating art is a joy for her and she hopes to share that feeling with others.
Kelly Joy explains the work by saying, “I love the process of creating my art. I love working with my hands and feeling the paper between my fingertips. It is very meditative as I repetitively cut, rip and glue pieces of acid-free paper to the canvas. I love transcending a simple piece of paper into a 3-D piece of art. Color excites me, but I also honor the sleek simplicity of black and white. Even more, I’m enthusiastic about texture and dimension. I’ve created different ways to make texture with paper using ripping and cutting techniques. I love the playful, unexpected and dimensional element that textured paper brings to canvas. The intention of my art is to evoke a sense of wonderment through the patterns of thousands of pieces of paper used to create one of my pieces.”
Each piece can take more than 100-200 hours to complete
