Kelly ODell

Bio

When she was a year old, in 1974, Kelly O’Dell’s family moved from Seattle to the Big Island of Hawai’i. Living in one of the most culturally and biologically diverse regions in the world, Kelly grew up in an actively erupting volcanic paradise struggling with a legacy of colonialism. Her childhood steeped in endless summer, she swam with glass-bottom boats and dove for coins tossed by their tourists. Kelly’s parents had an art studio in Kealakekua-Kona, and made their living using stained glass, blown glass, and pressed flowers. With interests in Oceanography, Astronomy and Math, Kelly chose Glass as her primary focus at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. The program offered her many opportunities to study and work at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA, and she eventually relocated there as a member of the William Morris Winter Crew. Influenced by this talented team of artists and by her island upbringing, O’Dell’s work mainly examines species extinction and conservation, and human impact on the natural world. Kelly has taught glassmaking at Pilchuck Glass School, Pratt Fine Arts, Penland School of Craft, Niijima Glass Center (Japan), The Royal Danish Academy (Bornholm), and at Pittsburgh Glass Center. She has recently returned to island life, residing on Lopez Island, WA with her husband, glass artist Raven Skyriver and their 15 year-old son Wren, who sometimes dabbles in glassmaking, but loves science and flying planes.

Recent solo exhibitions include the Museum of Northwest Art and the Pittsburgh Glass Center. Recent group exhibitions include the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Whatcom Museum, Tacoma Museum of Glass, the Fuller Craft Museum, and The Glasmuseum Lette of Coesfeld, Germany.

Collections include the Tacoma Museum of Glass Permanent Collection, the Kamm Teapot Foundation, the Washington State Art Collection, the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation, the Glasmuseum Lette Collection, The Henry Ford, and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.

Artist Statement

Coming from a place where active volcanoes constantly rumbled and gurgled, I grew up obsessed with my own mortality. Through sculpture, my work explores themes of “Memento Mori,” as well as extinction, preservation, and origin. It is fascinating and devastating that our existence has so much impact on the delicate balance of life, our own species included. I hope my artwork could serve as a reminder, or "Memento," of our borrowed time.

The Ammonite, an intelligent coiled-up cephalopod, became extinct 65 Million years ago, leaving impressions in its marine habitat to fossilize. Today, we can hold this time-teller in hand, and if we take a close look, we can notice the great difference between us. I think about what we will leave behind when we are gone, and what index fossils buried in our particular strata of time will look like. 

Although my main technique is Hot Glass Sculpture, I use Glass in a variety of ways, including screen-printing and fusing, cold-working and casting, and reflective mirror mosaic. Supporting materials are often metal, bronze, and wood. I enjoy combining processes and materials to convey my message. 

Glass often evokes a perceived fragility. With wafer-thin screen-printed glass powders, I am able to convey the commonly perceived fragility of glass within a theme like animal extinction. In contrast, Glass can also be massive and impervious. By casting thick blocks of transparent glass embedded with patterned inclusions, I try to communicate hope in Nature’s persistence.

Education

 BFA Degree/Studio Art, Focus: Glass. University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1999. Instructor: Rick Mills (while on sabbadical: Michael Scheiner & Hank Murta Adams)

 Student, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA (summer workshops 1997- 2004) Instructors: Randy Walker, Petr Novotny, Ruth King, Katherine Gray, Peter Ivy, Pino Signoretto

 Additional post-degree studies (see apprenticeships/ assistantships listed below) 

 San Francisco Community College 1992

Exhibitions

2026 Tidal, Co-exhibition with Raven Skyriver, Hawk Galleries, Columbus, OH 

2025-6 Artist Registry Exhibit, San Juan Island Museum of Art, Friday Harbor, WA 

2025 Seattle Art Fair, showing with Museo Gallery of Whidbey Isand, WA 

2025 Co- exhibition with Raven Skyriver, Featured Artist, Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 

2023 Solo Exhibition, Confluence, Habatat Detroit, Royal Oak, MI 

2022 Fired Up: Glass Today, The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

2019-22 Chinese Whispers, curated by Erin Dickson, Glazenhuis, Lommel, Belgium 2022,

& Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark, 2019-20

2021 Glass Lifeforms 2021, The Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton MA

Fluid Formations: the Legacy of Glass in the Pacific Northwest, Whatcom

Museum, Bellingham WA 

2019 Group Glass Exhibition (Aquisitions), Glasmuseum Lette, Coesfeld, Germany 

The Willenbrink-Johnsen Invitational, Schack Art Center, Everett WA

2018 Solo Exhibition, All of the Suddens, Pittsburgh Glass Center, PA

Co-exhibition (with Raven Skyriver), Pierini Gallery, Biot, France

2017 Solo Exhibition, transient (h)ours, MoNA Museum of Northwest Art, WA

2016 Into the Deep, Tacoma Museum of Glass, Tacoma WA

Lifeforms 2016, 171 Cedar Arts Center, Corning NY

Solo Exhibition Endangered Species,, The Glass Wheel, Norfolk, VA

Solo Exhibition Habatat Galleries, W Palm Beach, FL

2015 People’s Choice Exhibit, Pilchuck Gallery, Seattle WA

William Morris Crew Exhibit, Dane Gallery, Nantucket, MA

2013 SOFA Chicago, with Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2010 SOFA NY, with Blue Rain Gallery of Santa Fe, New Mexico

2009 SOFA Santa Fe, with Evoke Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2008 Solo Exhibition, 65 Million Years, Vetri Gallery, Seattle, WA

2007 Young Glass 2007, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark

2004-2006 Pilchuck Staff Show, The History of the World Gallery, Camano Island, WA

2003 Cash, Gas, or Glass, Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle, WA

2002 Orange County Fair Juried Art Exhibition (Featured Artist), Costa Mesa, CA

Co-exhibition, Form + Function III, The Center for Contemporary Art, Santa  

Ana, CA

2001 Co-exhibition, I Love Mom, Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle, WA 

1999 Featured Artist, MTV “The Real World” House, Honolulu, HI

1996 The Mold and the Molded, Curated by Hank Murta Adams, Commons Gallery, 

University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI