Kelly Klaasmeyer is an artist and writer currently living in Galveston, Texas, a hurricane-beset barrier island 45 miles from Houston.
Klaasmeyer received her MFA in painting from the University of Houston in 1992. After exploring the many exciting and lucrative employment opportunities available to recent MFA graduates, temporary office work chief among them, she spent the mid-nineties in St. Petersburg, Russia hanging out with unsavory characters, writing about art for the English language newspaper, living off credit cards and making art about post-communist culture.
She moved back to Houston in 1998 and (in addition to working a lot of crummy jobs) began writing and drawing the cartoon “Chock Full o’ Angst” for the Houston Press. She had just gotten her George Bush caricature down when the strip was tragically canceled in early 2000. Saddened, Klaasmeyer, not unlike Anakin Skywalker, went over to the dark side. She found herself writing art criticism for the Press and other publications. Seventeen years later, she is still writing about art.
She is also still making art. Her current work explores story and image, at present through a series of portraits accompanied by stories from their subjects.
Klaasmeyer lives with her barbecue-dependent food writer husband Robb Walsh and their goofy grade-school children, Ava and Joe. Inexplicably, the family also shares their home with a somnolent and rotund Basset Hound named Frances and a small, annoying, spring-loaded quasi-Jack Russell name Daphne.
Kelly Klaasmeyer
2925 Avenue O
Galveston, TX 77550
kelly@kellyklaasmeyer.com
(1)713-302-6604
Born 1966, Omaha, Nebraska, raised in Conway, Arkansas
Education
MFA in Painting, University of Houston, Houston Texas, 1992
BFA in Painting and Drawing, University of North Texas, Denton Texas, 1988
International Sommerakademie für Bildende Kunst, Salzburg, Austria, 1995, casting workshop with Jeanne Silverthorne
Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna, Austria, Open Academy Program with Peter Halley, Thomas Lawson and Carel Visser, 1992
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2007
Postnatal Pile, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1997
Tales and Artifacts from the Evil Empire, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas
Stories and Artifacts from the Evil Empire, Purse Building Studios, Houston, Texas
Renok, performance piece, garage sale in the snow, Prospect Prosveshenia, St. Petersburg Russia
1993
True Arkansas Tales and Dead Pet Stories, River Oaks Theater, Houston, Texas
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017 – Upcoming
The Reflection in the Sword of Holofernes, Galveston Artist Residency, Galveston, Texas; curated by Eric Schnell
2014
Book Machine, Texas Contemporary, Houston, Texas
2011
Bar Art, Dive Bar and Art, Austin, Texas
2010
Outloud, Philomena Gabriel Contemporary, Houston, Texas
2008
A Time for Change, Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, Texas; curated by Catherine D. Anspon
2007
Drawing Show, The Joanna Gallery, Houston, Texas
Red Velvet: A case for domestic tranquility, Vine Street Studios, Houston, Texas
2005
The Affair @ the Jupiter Hotel, Portland, Oregon
Fashionistas IV, Poissant Gallery, Houston, Texas; curated by Catherine D. Anspon.
2003
Identity, Houston Community College-Northeast, Houston, Texas; curated by Daryl Lauster
2002
John Calabrese, Kelly Klaasmeyer, Anderson Wrangle, ArtScan Gallery/Rudolf Projects, Houston, Texas
2001
Million Dollar Hotel, Holiday Inn Select, Houston, Texas
Fast Food for Thought: Cartoons ‘n’ Art, ArtScan Gallery, Houston, Texas
2000
Souvenir, Denise Ramos Studios, Houston, Texas
1999
XCXL: Exquisite Corpse Extra Large, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas
Dada You Dada Hou, ArtScan Gallery, Houston, Texas
Pachanga Show, Gallery 3A, Houston, Texas
Half & Half, Purse Building Studios, Houston, Texas
1998
Blurred Vision, Winter Street Art Center, Houston, Texas
1997
Womensical, Takara Gallery, Houston, Texas
1996
New American Talent, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas; juror: Lisa Phillips, catalogue.
1996 Area Exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, Houston, Texas; jurors: Dana Fris-Hansen, Mary Miss, Luis Jimenez
1995
Assistant, Buro, Zurich, Switzerland; curated by Maurus Gmur and Urs Fischer
Schlussaustellung, Alte Saline, Salzburg, Austria
Bodies in Evidence, New Gallery, Houston, Texas
Con-Text, The Artist’s Loft, Galveston, Texas
McNeese National Works on Paper Exhibition, McNeese State University, juror: Peter Doroschenko, purchase award, catalogue.
Texas Art Celebration, 1600 Smith, Houston, Texas, juror: Marti Mayo
The Dishman Competition, Dishman Gallery, Beaumont, Texas; juror Ronnie McMurtrey
1994
Exquisite Corpse, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas
The Big Show, Lawndale Art and Performance Center, Houston, Texas; juror: Tom Moody, third place award, catalogue.
Cross City Blowout, Daylong mobile exhibition in a U-Haul truck; organized by Arena Productions, Houston, Texas.
New American Talent, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas; juror: Adam Weinberg. Catalogue.
1993
Texas Biennial Exhibition, Fair Park, Dallas, Texas; jurors: Chris Crowden, Al Harris F., Benito Huerta, Marti Mayo. Catalogue.
Frost Free, Sears Brand Central Appliance Department, Houston, Texas; organized by Arena Productions.
Amarillo Competition, Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, Texas; juror: Jim Edwards
The Dishman Competition, Dishman Gallery, Beaumont, Texas; juror: Lynn Goode
1992
5 Amerikanse Kunstenaars, Sokucentrum, Ommen, The Netherlands; curated by Eddie Arrentson, Stichting Kunstwerk
1992 M.F.A. Exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
The Dishman Competition, The Dishman Gallery, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas; juror, Marti Mayo, 2nd Place
New Zoo Review, Commerce Street Artist’s Warehouse, Houston, Texas; curated by Al Hermann.
Awards
2009 Grantee, Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program, Short-Form Writing
2009 USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellowship
2004 Lone Star Award, First Place in Arts and Entertainment Criticism for the State of Texas, Houston Press Club
1995 Purchase Award, McNeese National Works on Paper Exhibition
1995 The Wayfinding Project, Public Art Project, Cultural Arts Council of Houston
1994 The Big Show, Third Place, Lawndale Art and Performance Center, Houston, Texas
1994 Creative Artist Program Artist Project Grant, Cultural Arts Council of Houston, Houston, Texas
1992 Kimbrough Award, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
1992 The Dishman Competition, 2nd Place, Dishman Gallery, Beaumont, Texas
1992, 1991, 1990, 1989 Friends of Art Scholarship, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
Writing and Editing
Editor of Glasstire, a nonprofit, Texas-centric online art magazine
November 2007 to Feb 2013
Freelance Art Critic for The Houston Press, Houston, Texas
2000 to the present
Freelance Art Writer
2001 to the present
Texas Observer, Art Lies, Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Houston, Raw Vision, Rice Magazine, Sallyport, Modern Painter
Cartoonist, “Chock Full o’ Angst,” The Houston Press, Houston, Texas
1998- 2000
Freelance Art Critic, St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg. Russia
1996-1997
Teaching and other Professional Experience
2011 Evaluator for applications to Creative Capital|Warhol Foundation short form writing program.
2010 Evaluator for applications to Creative Capital|Warhol Foundation short form writing program.
2010 Instructor, Houston Community College, Houston, Texas. Studio art
2002 Instructor, Young Artist Apprenticeship Program, Blaffer Gallery, Houston, Texas
2000 – 2002 Instructor, Lee College, Beaumont, Texas. Studio art and art history
1994 Project Coordinator and Instructor, Houston, Texas. Collaborative installation with at-risk students.
1991 – 1996 Educational Assistant, Blaffer Gallery, Houston, Texas.
1990 – 1991 Teaching Fellow, University of Houston, Houston, Texas. Studio art.
Lectures, Talks, Curatorial Activities etc.
April 2016, juror for applicants to the 2016-2017 Galveston Artist Residency
September 2012, Panelist, “Defining Reality: Art and the Discussion of it Online,” Houston Fine Art Fair
November 2009, presentation to students in the Master’s Degree program in Arts Journalism, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism
March 2005, Poissant Gallery, Houston, Texas, artist’s talk
January 2005, KUHF 88.7 FM, interviewed by Dean Dalton about the state of visual arts in Houston.
March 2003, University of Houston Art Department, visiting artist critique
Spring 2000, “Souvenir,” co-curated with Jeff Shore at Denis Ramos Studios, Houston, Texas
February 1999, “Shantyfest ’99,” curated exhibition of site-specific installations in a soon-to-be-demolished bungalow, Houston, Texas.
July 1998, “Slide Jam,” Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, artist’s talk
November 1997, The Art League, Houston, Texas. Curator’s lecture for “Talented Americans” exhibition.
October 1997, curated “Talented Americans,” 1997, The Art League, Houston, Texas
April 1995, Blaffer Gallery, Houston, Texas. UHReach Program lecture presented to the National Art Educators Annual Convention.
March 1995, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas. “Elvis Bulletin Board,” Panel Discussant
April 1993, UHReach Slide Lecture, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
November 1991, Thesis Slide Lecture, University of Houston, Houston, Texas.
COLLECTIONS
Works held in public and private collections in the United States and private collections in Austria, The Netherlands, and Germany.