JP Kelley: Early Montana
In 1980, Kelley took his art to Europe in conjunction with a promotion of Western products sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
JP Kelley's sculptures were exhibited around the West as well as on a national tour in 1973 that included the world-famous Kennedy Gallery, New York; Newman Galleries, Philadelphia; the Wally F. Findlay Galleries in Chicago; and Willoughby-Toschi Art Gallery in San Francisco. By 1990, J.P. had moved to rural Oregon and showed his bronze sculptures only occasionally thereafter. During retirement, he turned his attention to compiling and publishing a couple collections of his pen-and ink sketch cartoons. The first, Whang Leather, captures cowboy life on the range, while his second, I Saw It at the Mall, is a contemporary and humorous look at American culture. He also published a collection of his early working sketches and notes in a book titled A Trash Bin Interception. All three titles are out of print.
J.P. spent his final few years in Sturgis, South Dakota, where he died January 28, 2005, just shy of his 78th birthday. Fortunately for the public, some of his bronze sculptures are still being sold and shown in secondary markets, but the majority of them remain in beloved private collections.
Source/Submitted by: J.P. Kelley bio sketch, Compiled by Connie Fairfield Ganz 2019
Sculptures from JP Kelley